Burial Clouds "Last Days of a Dying World"

LP - $19.40 / CD - $10.70
STREET DATE: 5/12/23
CAT#: CRR194
LABEL: Church Road

With roots firmly planted in the heavy metal traditions of the Pacific Northwest, Burial Clouds' music bears a dim light in a dark land; an emotional response to the human experience of life in a decaying empire.

Drawing influences from Doom, Psychedelia, Post-Metal, and Grunge, Burial Clouds' well crafted songwriting is ambitious in sonic scope. Heavy without being cliche, complex without falling into self-indulgence and epic without pretension.

Burial Clouds were originally an instrumental band, but have recently been joined on vocals by actor/musician Michael Malarkey (Vampire Diaries, Project Blue Book). With this addition the band have reached a new level of expansiveness through Malarkey’s crooning blues-esque vocals and blistering screams.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Cloudsplitter
  2. Beirut Shores
  3. Seawall
  4. Ether Fields
  5. Death, Emperor

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features actor/musician Michael Malarkey (Vampire Diaries, Project Blue Book)

FOR FANS OF:
Cult of Luna, Yob, Isis

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Wallowing “Earth Reaper”

LP - $18.75 / CD - $9.60
STREET DATE: 4/28/23
CAT#: CRR193
LABEL: Church Road

From the bands conception in 2018, the faceless UK based Sci-fi/extreme metal troop WALLOWING have gone strength to drastic strength, being quickly labelled as one of the UK's 'must see live bands' pre-lockdown (something they have enthusiastically kept up into 2023), to finding their feet within the expanded metal and science fiction communities throughout the covid-19 pandemic. Through the release of their debut album 'PLANET LOSS' (via Sludgelord Records (UK) and Black Voodoo Records (USA), paired with their first dive into retro-styled comic books, graphic novels and action figures during covid-19 lockdown, the band rapidly gained a strong and dedicated following spanning the globe - A committed fanbase that they were able to count upon once the world opened again, allowing the band to embark on two extensive tours of the UK, perform internationally for the first time, collaborate with musicians in the USA on a split record, and re-release their debut album in Asia (via Gutless Productions).

Their explosive, riff fueled 2019 debut concept album 'PLANET LOSS' struck an eerie chord with many for it's dark foretelling of a grim reality that could befall our own planet in the not-too-distant future. Receiving global praise from press, the underground metal scene and ironically becoming the "soundtrack to the end" for many throughout 2020, has poised WALLOWING perfectly for the release of their Church Road Records debut; EARTH REAPER - their most intense and expansive release to date.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. A World Weeping
  2. Flesh and Steel
  3. Echoes of the Outer Reaches
  4. Cries of Estima
  5. Obliteration
  6. Cyborg Asphyxiation
  7. Earth Reaper

FOR FANS OF:
Primitive Man, Bismuth, Conjurer

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The St Pierre Snake Invasion “Galore”

LP - $19.40
STREET DATE: 4/21/23
CAT#: CRR189
LABEL: Church Road

galore (/ɡəˈlɔː/) - adjective: in abundance.

Formed in the bygone barren period for British rock music that were the nascent 2010s, The St Pierre Snake Invasion have consistently shown themselves to be an unapologetically creative force.

Spearheaded by their frontman, and founding member Damien Sayell, the band have gone from strength to strength since the release of the Flesh EP (July 9th 2011) with a slew of beloved and increasingly daring releases, all bolstered by incendiary and enigmatic live shows.

The long gap between debut album, A Hundred Years A Day (October 31st 2015) and the release of underground sophomore smash Caprice Enchanté (June 21st 2019) was something the five-piece were reticent to repeat, but circumstance beyond the Bristolians' control dictates that third LP, Galore, comes to us in a markedly different world than the one in which St Pierre were building their reputation and acclaim.

Sayell himself has been adamant that this latest offering would not be a COVID album. He did not want it to address the ubiquitous isolation of global lockdown. It immediately would date the record to a fixed point in time and not allow its ideas to flourish and find a receptive audience for a continued period. Instead, the changes represented in Galore are so fundamentally powerful and relatable to the human condition. It is an album centered around universally resonant themes of growth.

The summer of 2021 saw the birth of Sayell's first child. The concurrent writing of the band's third LP has, naturally, been greatly informed by the experience of impending fatherhood. Wondering about one's own impact on a life that you have been a part in creating, the anxieties of what will be passed down to another generation, and reflections on garnered wisdom with age; these are the key themes that bring us to the band's magnum opus to date.

Alongside these introspective lyrics, the band's sound has taken on new life. Where Carprice Enchanté was primarily informed by the musicality of Every Time I Die, The Chariot, Refused and Mclusky, Galore builds on this framework by incorporating influences as disparate as LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax and Meshuggah into a coherent and daring whole. A song like That There's Fighting Talk sees seething aggression taken to a mathcore nightclub, while the title track and Apex Prey see the band exploring looser, quieter melodicism alongside Sang Froid's Aisling Whiting, who brings a stake dynamic counterpart to Sayell in a beautiful and captivating performance.

There are still tracks reminiscent of the band's previous work, such as Submechano and Sleep Well - the latter featuring a sterling guest appearance from Sugar Horse's Ashley Tubb - in which we hear the brash punk attitude St Pierre's ever-growing fanbase adore. But ultimately, from the opening syncopated notes of Pete Reisner's percussion and Sayell's distinctive vocals on Kracked Velvet, it's impossible not to hear the palpable shift to another echelon of artistic uniqueness.

Ultimately, while the band explore these universal themes of growth and rumination therein and retain a distinctly 'St Pierre' sound, they are one step deeper into a marvelous career, striving for an unrivaled and unique sound. And The St Pierre Snake Invasion have that uniqueness in abundance.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Kracked Velvet
  2. Midas
  3. Submechano
  4. Galore
  5. To Sleep Well
  6. Every Sun
  7. The Overlook
  8. Apex Prey
  9. That There's Fighting Talk
  10. I Pray To Liars

FOR FANS OF:
The Chariot, Every Time I Die, Converge, The Armed

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Ohhms "Rot"

LP - $17.90 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 3/31/23
CAT#: CRR165
LABEL: Church Road

Following a string of singles released by Church Road Records over 2022, UK post sludge headbangers ((OHHMS)) have announced the release of their 4th full-length album - entitled ‘Rot’. Due for release on March 31st, 2023, ‘Rot’ is eight tracks of uncompromising riff-filled and horror fuelled songs.

Each track takes its inspiration from the horror movies that have impacted the band's psyche since the release of their previous album, Close. From the lyrical drive to the rhythms and tempo changes on the drums, from the tone of the layered guitars to the dual vocal approach on several of the cuts, ‘Rot’ sees the group push forward into unexplored pastures.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Tonight's Feature Presentation
  2. Let’s Scare Jessica To Death
  3. Eaten Alive
  4. Blood Feast
  5. Body Melt
  6. A Dark Song
  7. The Mephisto Waltz
  8. Sisters
  9. Swamp Thing

FOR FANS OF:
Baroness, Torche

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Inhuman Nature "Inhuman Nature"

LP - $14.65 / CD - $7.00
STREET DATE: 1/6/23
CAT#: CRR185
LABEL: Church Road

The reissue of the debut album by UK Thrashers Inhuman Nature.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Taste of Steel
  2. Carnivorous Lunar Activities
  3. The Hangman Draws Near
  4. Satan's Claw
  5. Lines in the Sand
  6. Forgotten Tombs
  7. A Nuclear Frost
  8. Holy Command

FOR FANS OF:
Power Trip, Red Death

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Implore "The Burden of Existence"

LP - $16.60 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 10/28/22
CAT#: CRR166
LABEL: Church Road

The highly anticipated album from extreme metallers Implore. Their fresh mix of all extreme styles including punk, death metal and hardcore are on full display on ‘The Burden of Existence’, this album is set to send the band to new heights. Implore was formed in 2013 in the north of Germany, after some tours and a couple of releases the line up shifted to members coming from all around Europe.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Prior Void
  2. The Burden of Existence
  3. Archetype
  4. Masochistic Tendencies
  5. Accept the Loss
  6. Sun Deprived
  7. Failure Through Self Preservation
  8. Ultimate Freedom
  9. Love Will Gradually Perish
  10. The Sense of Endings

FOR FANS OF:
Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Converge

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Going Off "What Makes You Tick?"

LP - $16.60 / CD - $7.50
STREET DATE: 2/24/23
CAT#: CRR183
LABEL: Church Road

With 2 EP releases since their formation in December 2019 and a raging leap into the live music circuit, Going Off are a band with something to say. With an intense and relentlessly energetic live performance and songs with lyrical themes worth going off about - Going Off are a band who need to be seen and heard.

‘What Makes You Tick?’ is the hardcore punk anthem of 2023, filled with vigour and reminiscent of the likes of Candy, Gulch and Trash Talk.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. More Love
  2. Code of Conduct
  3. World to Witness
  4. Lowlife
  5. Premium Dream
  6. Self-Hatred
  7. Zoo
  8. Black White Blue
  9. Ugly Heart
  10. Flesh Prison
  11. In Heaven

FOR FANS OF:
Candy, Gulch and Trash Talk

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Landlords "Codeine"

LP - $14.65 / CD - $6.50
STREET DATE: 8/26/22
CAT#: CRR139
LABEL: Church Road

Landlords are a four-piece alternative / slow rock band from Hamilton, New Zealand.

Born in 2017 from various members of local hardcore/metal/punk bands, a trio of shoegaze/slow rock fans got together, & soon came a small collection of demo-ready shoegaze inspired songs. The band soon started popping up in venues around New Zealand, filling rooms with their driving, reverb-laden tunes. Their original bassist relocated to Melbourne for a year, but was soon back in New Zealand due to covid, re-joining the band on guitar making Landlords a 4-piece.

They released their debut self-titled EP in 2020 - six songs of their hallmark heavy distortion, vocal melodies blended under waves of ethereal guitars, driven by the relentless percussion and bass lines that underpin the moody lows and frenzied highs. A mini tour followed the release, allowing the band to share their dynamic sound further afield.

Codeine is Landlords’ second and most commanding release, a crescendo of all their musical energy and songwriting maturity, cementing them as one of the most promising post-punk acts to come out of New Zealand in recent years.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Perfect Life
  2. Haunt
  3. Clover
  4. Dwell
  5. Violence

FOR FANS OF:
Duster, Title Fight, DIIV

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Bastions “Majestic Desolation”

LP - $16.60 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 7/29/22
CAT#: CRR135
LABEL: Church Road

Seven years on from playing their final note onstage and unexpectedly ceasing all activity, seminal UK alternative hardcore band BASTIONS have announced their return. Eleven years on from the North Wales band’s revered debut album, Hospital Corners, BASTIONS will be releasing their second proper full-length , Majestic Desolation, via Church Road Records on July 29.

Privately reuniting in 2020, the quartet - composed of Jamie Burne (vocals), Jamie McDonald (guitar), Gareth Davies (bass) and Kieran Brindley (drums) - began reconnecting and re-envisioning what a future could look like with BASTIONS in it, a future that held respect for their past efforts without bending to misguided nostalgia or revised history. Discontent with simply resting on their discography's laurels, Majestic Desolation’s eight tracks are the result of a dark rekindling. Returning to The Ranch Studios in Southampton, UK to record with long-time collaborator and old friend Lewis Johns in July 2021, Majestic Desolation is proof that time dulls nothing.

As visceral as they ever were, BASTIONS’ trademark darkened hardcore and unnerving melodicism still convulses and writhes with an air of disquietude. Lamentations of lost time, profound emptiness and grief permeate throughout the entirety of Majestic Desolation’s 25 minutes. No more earnestly is this showcased than the one-two punch of Slithering into Coalfields - with Burne’s howls of “All this loss, all these years” on the latter. Majestic Desolation is less a comeback record as much as it is a continuation of all that made BASTIONS a highly influential UK act in the first place, taking personal hells and finding the universality within them against the backdrop of a sonically ceaseless push and pull.

BASTIONS in 2022 remain as perceptive towards all that leaves us desolate and hurting, with Majestic Desolation knowing when to swing and when to swim in the malaise of it all. Seven years on from that final strangled note at iconic London venue The Black Heart, BASTIONS are back and that sinking feeling of desolation is here to stay.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Haar
  2. A Broken Crown
  3. Acres of Love
  4. Heavy Hearts
  5. Slithering
  6. Coalfields
  7. Darker Paths
  8. A Spiteful Reign

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Produced by Lewis Johns (Rolo Tomassi, Employed To Serve)

FOR FANS OF:
Modern Life Is War, Touché Amoré

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Graywave “Rebirth”

LP - $14.65 / CD - $6.50
LP UPC: 5060852561086
CD UPC: 5060852561093
STREET DATE: 6/24/22
CAT #: CRR122
LABEL: Church Road

Surfacing from ethereal and dreamier planes, UK shoegaze and dreampop act GRAYWAVE are one of the latest additions to the Church Road Records roster. Following on from their 2021 debut EP proper, Planetary Shift, GRAYWAVE is set to release their second extended play, Rebirth, on June 24. Formed in Birmingham, UK in 2019 as a solo venture and creative outlet for Jess Webberley, GRAYWAVE has already amassed a steady stream of singles and qualitative short form releases - drip feeding fans a highly ambitious and modern take on dreampop and shoegaze’s storied sonic spectrum. Returning in 2022, Rebirth is the most revealing and entrancing look into GRAYWAVE’s evolution as an artist. Trading in some of the lo-fi tendencies of her earlier output, Rebirth sees Webberley embrace darker soundscapes and sonic weight across the release’s five tracks. GRAYWAVE’s latest effort is a confident seizing of identity and assured meeting point for the project’s initial potential and newfound blossoming. Opener, Build, and Rebirth’s title track rattle with rhythmic unease and confrontation, as Webberley’s voice drifts between somnolent hypnosis and arresting command. Elsewhere, Closer and Exoplanet effortlessly tie together 90s influence in the vein of Cocteau Twins and Drop Nineteens with a modern touch similar to US contemporaries Citizen. Following their recent union with Church Road Records, 2022 will see GRAYWAVE continue to shine across the UK live circuit. Having already sold out hometown shows, as well as getting through to the latter stages of the Isle of Wight Festival’s ongoing musical showcase that offers a spot on the festival’s New Blood stage, and performing with UK hardcore upstarts Cruelty. Living up to its name, Rebirth is already proving to be a fruitful time of growth for Webberley and GRAYWAVE’s creative self-actualisation - offering fans new and old the most conceptually realised iteration of the project’s limitless avenues of artistic promise yet.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Build
  2. Rebirth
  3. Exoplanet
  4. Red
  5. Closer

FOR FANS OF:
Emma Ruth Rundle, Citizen, Drab Majesty

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bigLOVE "Crusaders of Joy"

LP - $16.60 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 5/27/22
CAT #: CRR110
LABEL: Church Road

Shrouded in mystery, abstracted by endearment and drenched in tone, bigLOVE are set to make their presence known to the wider world on May 27 with their debut album, titled Crusaders of Joy, via Church Road Records.

Across the anonymous project’s four song inaugural release, bigLOVE marries atmospheric sludge and themes of eternally unconditional devotion in the name of all that is to be cherished in this waking world of ours. bigLOVE establishes their vision of the genre on highlight tracks Harnessing the Nectar from the Queen Bee and At One With - with both songs wielding Thou-esque lead guitar lines and all the sonic weight of Alice In Chains’ doomier cuts. Vocally, bigLOVE counterbalances the saccharine nature of their melodies with corrosive and hymnal omnipotence.

In an effort to eliminate unnecessary self-scrutiny and create instinctively, bigLOVE recorded Crusaders of Joy as it was being written - with the release's final takes being recorded moments after each part was finalised in the writing. Recorded between 2019 and 2020 before being mastered by UK audio savant Lewis Johns at The Ranch, Crusaders of Joy possesses a preternatural warmth in it’s production that beguiles as well as engulfs. The debut full length is adroitly tied together thematically by Maria Nemm’s (Holy Fawn, Slow Crush, Anthetic) album cover photography, adding another dimension to bigLOVE’s enigma of obscurity and ubiquity.

In the context of the modern age paradox of instantaneous connection and spiritual disconnect, Crusaders of Joy triumphs in it’s harnessing of love as philosophy, as it spiritualizes sludge and doom metal’s sonic weight to transcendental heights. Across the vast ocean of time, love remains at the core of all it is to be human.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Harnessing the Nectar from the Queen Bee
  2. A Grand Declaration of the Gods
  3. At One With
  4. Forever Intimate

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Featuring Justine Jones and Sammy Urwin of Employed to Serve

FOR FANS OF:
Thou, Cathedral, Godflesh

Heriot "Profound Morality"

LP - $15.95 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 4/29/22
CAT #: CRR120
LABEL: Church Road

Following their 2021 addition to the Church Road Records roster and a string of single releases throughout the year, UK metal upstarts HERIOT have announced the release of their first EP proper - titled Profound Morality. Due for release on April 29, Profound Morality is eight tracks of uncompromisingly polymorphic extreme metal, hardcore and industrial music.

Heralded as one of Kerrang! Magazine’s sounds of ‘22 and labeled as ones to watch by the likes of Metal Hammer and Revolver - not to mention praise from none other than Machine Head’s Robb Flynn - to say that HERIOT’s debut record is highly anticipated would be an understatement in the wake of a recent UK tour support slot alongside labelmates Svalbard.

HERIOT live up to their well-earned hype in spades across Profound Morality’s runtime. Early EP highlight Coalesence and the previously released Enter the Flesh belabour grind, industrial and hardcore’s sonic template into the ground with feverish intensity, as Jake Packer and Debbie Gough trade mercurial vocal barbs over tonally acerbic instrumentation. Elsewhere the band expand upon their artistic vision with cuts such as Abattoir and opener Abaddon, bringing together sonic textures not dissimilar to Justin K Broadrick’s Godflesh and Jesu projects.

Marrying disparate sounds from all ends of the broader metal spectrum is no easy task, which makes Profound Morality all the more powerful when taken in as a collective whole. Since their 2020 inception HERIOT have offered glimpses of their capabilities on bite-size releases, however, their latest work stands as a watershed moment for both the band and those who wish to draw outside of genre lines within abrasive music. With UK festival appearances at the likes of Bloodstock, 2000 Trees and Upsurge on the horizon, things are only just getting started for HERIOT.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Abaddon
  2. Coalescence
  3. Carmine (Fills the Hollow)
  4. Near Vision
  5. Mutagen
  6. Enter the Flesh
  7. Abattoir
  8. Profound Morality

FOR FANS OF:
Fuming Mouth, NAILS, Portrayal of Guilt

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Svalbard "Discography 2012 - 2014"

LP - $19.40 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 4/1/22
CAT #: CRR106
LABEL: Church Road

"Svalbard are a great example of a band who have done things The Right Way. Existing as a band for approximately 4 years before releasing their debut album, Svalbard played the slow and steady game, holding their cards relatively close to their chest. This enabled them to finely hone their craft over a number of 7”s, EPs and split releases, each time improving slightly on their songwriting and recording methodology, allowing themselves to experiment and push their sound in different directions along the way. This plan of attack enabled the band to consistently improve without the stringent spotlight, or pressure thereof, of an album. It also, rightly, seemed to keep people wanting more… "

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Ripped Apart
  2. Grayscale
  3. Allure
  4. Open The Cages
  5. This Is The End
  6. Flightless Birds
  7. For What It's Worth
  8. Melting Hands
  9. Never Look Back
  10. Pick Up The Pieces
  11. Leave It
  12. So Much For Meritocracy
  13. The Damage Done
  14. Anything Goes Nothing Stays

FOR FANS OF:
Alcest, Mew, Tragedy

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Helpless "Caged In Gold"

LP - $16.60 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 3/25/22
CAT #: CRR113
LABEL: Church Road

Just short of five years on from their acclaimed 2017 debut album, Debt, HELPLESS return with their sophomore album - titled Caged In Gold, due for release on March 25 via Church Road Records. Furthering their sonic blueprint of grindcore and discordant noise, the South West, UK trio’s second full length shows that time has not blunted their penchant for extremity in the slightest.

Following tour and standalone show support slots alongside acts such as Full of Hell, Nails and Gatecreeper, as well as festival appearances at Download and Dreadfest, Dan Couch (guitar / vocals) found himself as the sole founding member of HELPLESS before bringing Caged In Gold to life. Fortifying their line-up with the additions of both Simon Walker on bass and vocals and Sam Trenchard on drums and vocals, the three-piece’s second full-length’s gestation period was a complicated but fruitful one.

Caged In Gold is the pith of all that HELPLESS are, as they lay down a gauntlet of ill-natured grind and vitriolic blackened riffs alongside cacophonously inharmonic rhythms. In less than 30 minutes, HELPLESS affirm their growing reputation as masters of callous brevity on cuts such as the jarring The Empty Gesture and frenzy-inducing Unseen Servant, before closing proceedings with complete despondency on the four-minute monolith The Great Silence.

As chock-full of technicality and cohesive malevolence as their sophomore effort is, there’s a starkness to HELPLESS’ sound that is captured in sobering fashion by Chris Nicholls’ painted artwork - a primal terror that lurks in all of us. Which, below the surface of all of HELPLESS’ fury, lies at the heart of the trio’s savage virtuosity.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Wraiths of Memory
  2. The Empty Gesture
  3. Suppression
  4. Another Sunlight
  5. Single File
  6. Time Worship
  7. Focus Group Extraction
  8. Unseen Servant
  9. Simulacrum
  10. The Great Silence

FOR FANS OF:
Nails, Trap Them, Pig Destroyer

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Tuskar "Matriarch"

LP - $16.60 / CD - $8.00
STREET DATE: 2/25/22
CAT #: CRR115
LABEL: Church Road

Soundscapes shaped by moments of dark brooding doom and relentlessly riff-heavy and psychedelically charged movements. For Hodges and Dimmock the chemistry they share is unshakeable both live and in the studio. Their unmistakeable energy and ferocity has marked them out as UK sludge metal's most exciting prospects.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Matriarch
  2. To the Sky
  3. The Trees, The Trees, The Trees
  4. Halcyon Gilt
  5. Into the Sea
  6. Shame
  7. Grave

FOR FANS OF:
Mastodon, Sleep, Yautja, Baroness, Conan, YOB

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