By The Grace Of God – “Above Fear”
Check out some killer colors on this week’s RECORD OF THE WEEK Blog!
BY THE GRACE OF GOD began in 1996 when members of Endpoint, Guilt, Falling Forward, Elliott, and Enkindle decided to start a new band. After releasing two records the band took an indefinite hiatus in 2000. In a joint venture between STATE OF MIND and SIMBA, BY THE GRACE OF GOD is back! A powerful blend of aggression and melody, “Above Fear”, advocates for political awareness, empathy, and community. Written and recorded in two days in the summer of 2017, “Above Fear” is a fast and emotional anthem for a modern era. Pre orders for this insane silkscreened record go up tomorrow, which color are you going to order?
BAND NAME: By The Grace Of God
LABEL NAME: State of Mind Recordings / Simba Records
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RELAPSE RECORDS brings you the Seattle punk legends ZEKE return with their first new album in over 14 years entitled “Hellbender”! Short, fast, loud, and to the fuckin’ point, “Hellbender” contains fifteen tracks laced with ZEKE’s signature mix of hyperspeed thrash-punk and Motörhead possessed, hard as nails, rock n’ roll. Complete with raucous, in-your-face production by Jack Endino (Nirvana, High on Fire, The Accüsed), Hellbender is the culmination of a band 25 years into their career, sounding more aggressive, immediate and turbo-charged than ever before! Ride to live…
BAND NAME: ZEKE
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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Since 2016, Durham, England’s PALE KIDS have carved out a place of their very own in the punk scene. While they may draw comparisons to Martha—the fact PALE KIDS recorded an EP in Martha’s house cements it—but, across their assortment of splits and EPs, Pale Kids have built a space for their own voice. Since the beginning, the band’s been vocal champions of their queer identities, while wrapping their pop hooks in short, bombastic punk songs. With the release of “Hesitater”, a new three-song EP coming in March on FATHER/DAUGHTER RECORDS, the band takes another step forward, writing the strongest melodies of their short career, while still crafting lyrics that pack a meaningful punch.
BAND NAME: Pale Kids
LABEL NAME: Father/Daughter Records
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“Uncertainty Is Bliss” is the RELAPSE RECORDS debut from German psychedelic, hard rock trio BLACK SALVATION! This album challenges the listener to open wide the doors of perception and slowly drift away amongst their transcendental compositions and deeply hypnotic tales of magic and mysticism. Across eight tracks and 40+ minutes, BLACK SALVATION exquisitely blend blues, hard rock, doom and psychedelia into an intoxicating synthesis of rock n’ roll alchemy. Uncertainty Is Bliss is surely one of the most captivating rock debuts in years.
BAND NAME: BLACK SALVATION
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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NO JOY / SONIC BOOM is an experiment in testing boundaries and stepping out of comfort zones gone cosmically right. The project is comprised of Jasamine White-Gluz (a founding member/principal songwriter of NO JOY) and Pete Kember, aka SONIC BOOM (of Spacemen 3, Spectrum, and E.A.R.). What started as a sonic exploration between two friends—passing songs back and forth intercontinentally between Montreal and Portugal—soon grew into a project of substance, the result being four glistening tracks that dance along the lines of electronica, trip-hop and experimental noise. Their self titled debut is out soon on JOYFUL NOISE!
BAND NAME: No Joy / Sonic Boom
LABEL NAME: Joyful Noise Recordings (Website / Store Link)
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Deep, deep underground… From the brimstone Hayseed labyrinth comes HILLBILLIES IN HELL: VOLUME 666 – a blazing collection of psychedelic pedal-steel guitars, tortured Gospel odes, She-Devils, possessed minors, hayseed barroom homicides, hallucinogenic nightmares and desperate souls. Originally waxed on microscopic labels and distributed in minuscule amounts, these troubled and forgotten troubadours sing of drug-fulled delusions, deathly rivers and Satan’s perpetual temptations. A Luciferian cache of subterranean 45s, some of these sides are impossibly rare and are reissued here for the very first time. All for your primordial listening pleasure, this is an RSD exclusive, so make sure you get in line early!
ALBUM NAME: Hillbillies In Hell 666
LABEL NAME: Light In The Attic
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Miami noise rock/alt metal powerhouse WRONG’s sophomore album “Feel Great” will make you feel the exact opposite of great. A moody and eclectic record, albeit the moods are pissed and the eclecticism is different levels of pissed. On “Feel Great”, WRONG has mastered the arts of bludgeoning groove, riff, tone, and grit, creating eleven songs that are faster, heavier, angrier yet also more melodic than their breakout debut. Check out more over at RELAPSE RECORDS!
BAND NAME: WRONG
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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See you next week! Come find us at SXSW’s Flatstock Expo in a few weeks!
