Safe From Harm is the second studio album by Empathy Test. It was self-released simultaneously with the debut album, Losing Touch, via a PledgeMusic crowd funder, in November 2017. The crowd funder, which had an initial goal of £4,000, ended 661% funded and raised over £26,000. Safe Form Harm opens with Bare My Soul, which has had nearly 1.5m Spotify streams. Also included is Seeing Stars (also soon to hit 1m Spotify streams), live favourite Vampire Town, which were released as singles earlier in the year, and Everything Will Work Out which was released as a single as part of the crowd funder, with an acoustic version of Losing Touch.

​

CAST & CREW

​

As with the first album, Losing Touch, all the tracks on Safe From Harm were written and recorded by founder members Isaac Howlett and Adam Relf, with all lyrics by vocalist Isaac Howlett. Adam Relf produced the album artwork, and did the mixing and mastering.

​

FORMATS

​

Safe From Harm was originally self-released in digital, Digipak CD and 12" black vinyl formats. The first run of 500 Digipak CDs sold out before the end of the year and a second run of 1,000 was commissioned. As with Losing Touch, the artwork of the second Digipak CD differed slightly from the first, including the same mountain design featured on the vinyl sleeve, on the back cover of the Digipak. The band went on to release a second limited edition run of 300 orange vinyl, a third of 300 white vinyl, and a final self-funded edition of 500 clear vinyl with an orange splatter.

 

After the second run of 1,000 digipak CDs sold out, the band produced a second run of 500 "expanded" Digipak CDs, with remixes of the album tracks from the previously released CD singles. 

​

RECEPTION

​

Safe From Harm, despite being slightly overshadowed by its more popular twin, Losing Touch, was well-received by fans and critics alike, receiving a "legendary" 10/10 from Brutal Resonance, and a "masterwork" 9/10 from Elektroskull. Elektroskull marvelled that there was not a single bad song on the album. The UK's Electricity Club noted that the songs on Safe From Harm showed a "more dynamic quality" and "much more confident approach to songwriting". Declining to give a numerical score for the album, Electricity Club simply said the two records were "two of the finest albums of the year".

​

Press quotes [Click here for more]

​

"If there’s one thing that emerges from Empathy Test’s material, its the chemistry between Howlett and Relf that allows them to compose songs that sound so polished and captivating. Here, there’s a sense of mood and melancholy that’s as heartfelt as it is unique." - The Electricity Club

​

“...wouldn’t sound out of place snaking into the soundtrack of Netflix series Stranger Things’ second season." - Line of Best Fit

​

"...better than "Wonderland" (1986) by Erasure , “Upstairs at Eric's” (1982) by Yazoo and “The Bones What We Believe” (2013) by CHVRCHES . Do you understand how good they are?" - Elektroskull

​

"This amount of perfect should not exist in one gigantic package but Empathy Test makes it so." - Brutal Resonance

 

​

​