I. Yautja CD + re-press
We have pressed a CD version of “Songs of Descent” because the dudes continue to burn rubber throughout the United States, touring their asses off. Also, we just got a re-press of LPs in on black vinyl. The freaks just ended a 26th day tour this past week, and guess what they decided to do now that they are home? Go out for a weekend jaunt tomorrow! Oh, and be sure to check them out at the stacked Southern Darkness Festival!
6/6 – Dayton, OH @ Blind Bob’s Bar w/ Mouth of the Architect
6/7 – Covington, KY @ Backstage Cafe
6/8 – Erie, PA @ Basement Transmissions w/ Eyehategod, Ringworm, Enabler, and Homewrecker
II. Windhand re-press and CD
After numerous test press rejections (and a lot of back and forth) we finally have this re-press rolling forward. The CDs came in a couple weeks back and the LPs are shipping out to us next week. This pressing is on Halloween orange vinyl. For the first time ever we will be having Hammerheart exclusively distribute the record in Europe with Revolver USA / Midheaven and Ebullition continuing U.S. Distribution. The band is taking some much needed R&R this summer but I expect you will be hearing from them when they get back on the road later this year!
III. Ruine reviews
We only have 15 of the red vinyl left. Trust me, once the band records their upcoming LP they are going to blow the fuck up…the material is too good! Get this demo now, because much like that one so called “savior” once it’s gone it will never be coming back! Below are some reviews:
“SLUDGE SUPERGROUP RUINE IS UGLY, SLOW, AND YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT…It turns out that if you mix members of speed-demon-grindcore freaks Magrudergrind with crusty-black-metallers Mutilation Rites, you don’t get a band that blasts at 10000 BPM. Instead the newly formed band will turn up and tune down to make the ugliest music imaginable. Enter Ruine, a new project that digs into Grief-like doom-hatred on the Winter 2014 demo…Tune down, light up, and nod your head to this. Fuckin’ ugly.” – Noisey
“Not only is this some filthy degenerate-style elephants marching shit, but it repeatedly takes sharp right turns in ways that are at once unexpected and completely organic. It’s both unsettling and invigorating.” – MetalSucks
“Regression” is slow, titanic, and crushing. It moves like a magma flow, enormous fuzz-bombed riffs and boulder-like drum beats engulfing whatever frail things lie in their path. The vocals veer from horrifying shrieks to hoarse roars. It’s massive sludge/doom that will eventually get your head moving hard while you worry about your future.” – No Clean Singing
“Ruine is purely evil, crushing–nay devastating–sludgy doom metal. I mean, this is fucking mean.” – American Aftermath
“We conclude with Ruine, a new group that combines members of black metal heathens Mutilation Rites and grindcore freaks Magrudergrind in a combo that … isn’t nearly as fast as you might think from who’s involved. But that’s not a negative whatsoever, as this group is an awesome, sludgy, miserable unit that could make you want to step into traffic after a bad day. The two songs on their “Winter 2014” 7-inch release are drubbing, crushing, and full of darkness, and these guys have a pretty interesting thing going on here that I’m curious to hear more of as they work their way into the future.
We kick off with “Decades of Sorrow,” a trudging dose of black doom, where George Paul’s vocals are instantly recognizable and as shrouded in mystery as they are on Mutilation Rites albums. The track is wholly violent, but there are melodies that run through it as well, giving it a weird glistening that makes you tilt your head. The back end is riffy as hell, with Avi Kulawy joining with Paul to shred you and sting your ear drums. “Regression” is slow driving and ugly, with Justin Ennis’ drums setting a devious pace that instills evil into the track. The vocals are just not human, as they sound like shrieks of pain that no living being could replicate or comprehend, and the music is thrashy, mucky, and keeps clubbing and threatening right until it ends, finally giving you mercy. This is one hell of a bruising band, and whatever they do in the future we will consume with great interest.” – Meat, Mead, and Metal
“Soul-crushing, bleak, filthy and mean sludge metal. These cats ain’t fucking around. It’s a 7” and only two songs on it, and each one uses every iota of available wax to punish you (you probably deserve it). One mean riff piled atop another with no hope of ever coming up for air. This is not a bad start for a new (I’m pretty sure they are new anyway) band. I’m very interested in hearing more, I’m a glutton for punishment.” – Hex Records
IV. Upcoming projects
Going to be busy next few months for sure.
Finally Bastard Sapling returns with their long awaited follow up to their debut LP ‘Dragged From our Restless Trance’! We teamed up with Gilead Media on this one and I think I can speak for all parties involved in saying we couldn’t have been happier with the results. ‘Instinct is Forever’ showcases the band truly hitting what I feel is their pinnacle in songwriting. An excellently crafted journey that never feels monotonous or stale, that seamlessly flows from some of the most unadulterated brutal moments into some of the most cathartic moments (sometimes within the same song). Recorded by one of my favorite engineers and even better friend Kevin Bernsten (Triac, Mutilation Rites, Ilsa) at Developing Nations in Baltimore, MD…oh so fittingly over the course of the 2014 Polar Vortex. The band is teaming up with Inter Arma for a string of dates around Gilead Fest in July, the dates are listed below.
A cassette release from Richmond, VA’s crushing (yet at times melodic) d-beat metallic hardcore outfit Prisoner is slated for a July 9th release. Let this three song cassette EP serve not only as your introduction to these Richmond upstarts, but as a warning shot across the bow. Although having formed in only 2012, this cast of misanthropic miscreants have been honing their craft in basements, kitchens, and dive bars across America for the better part of the last decade with members having served tours of duty in past and present Richmond acts like Balaclava, Inter Arma, and Animal Magazine. Prisoner has one foot rooted firmly in the school of dark and crusty metallic hardcore (a la His Hero is Gone, Tragedy and Cursed) but to call them just a “dark and crusty metallic hardcore band” would be a slight, because Prisoner is so much more. Ferocious, d-beat driven, metallic hardcore gives way to moments of post-metal inspired heaviness. On songs like “Vacuum” Prisoner hammer the listener with sludgy, gloomy hardcore before weaving their way into more sinister territory, at times even employing a moody dissonance normally found in left-of-center black metal bands. Prisoner have without question forged all of their influences into one solid, vicious and well crafted mission statement.
We are also hard at work on two releases this coming fall. First we have debut LP from Richmond, VA punk-tinged black metal upstarts Unsacred ‘False Light’. The band recorded last week with Ricky Olson (Unholy Thoughts) and are now in the process of mixing with Bryan Walthall (RPG, The Catalyst) and Ricky Olson at Big Dawg Little Dawg Studios in Richmond, VA. We should have more details very soon on this September release. Also currently on the knob twirling docket is the long awaited solo album of Windhand front woman Dorthia Cottrell. Her debut was recorded just before Windhand’s European tour with Daniel Deckelman at Snake Oil Recording Studio and we are hoping to have final mixes off to master by mid June. Expect an October street date.
VI. Web-store
We have had plenty of issues and we apologize. Within the next week we will be launching a new web-store that will put all our issues to rest. We will accept credit cards, have apparel, and so much more.
