09/13/2024
Another monumental release coming to Wax Vessel. More Debello worship. More Family. Don't miss out on this. even Total Dissonance Worship and Meteor Gem got in on this one. This is sick AF.
I don’t know about you, but I’m still in that hereisaropegoodluck state of mind! Arguably one of the best new releases this year, and what if I told you that wasn’t the end of it? That there was a proto-rope. A precursor that featured the same core building block of rope, but released almost 20 years earlier? More Debello worship on WV? More Carrroll and Cole? More fu**ed up art and insane tunes?? Look no further than PLAGUES! It’s here and its in hand! I originally though this was goin to line up a bit closer to HIARGL, but better late than never! Woohoo!
I don’t want to say Plagues is the opposite of HIARGL, but def a FOIL in some senses. Its a bit slower and more meandering. IT has the kind of dissonant quality that bands like WFAHM/Nightmarer would adopt in this kind of hybrid death metal scene. There’s this throat shredding quality that a lot of new bands don’t have anymore because we all know it destroyed your voice, haha. It has that real, rough, turn of the millennium quality where everything was uncharted and everyone was figuring genres out. Its just an incredibly earnest release and just another reason why Debello was so ahead of the curve. I really think as viewed through the “prequel to rope” lens, this is such an incredible, trend-setting release. I know it’ll be the first time for a lot of you hearing this - you’re in for a treat!
Sludgy, dissonant hardcore inspired grind. Almost an industrial, droning quality. Just insane low end register with this staccato vocals that just float above just a wall of noise. It’s got a very emotive quality, and these like, actual breakdowns - but all of that is just in the background to these dissonant guitars and tripletulating drums. I wouldn’t call this album bouncy, but it really does have a lot of groove. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact style they were going for here - I don’t know if I told you but this came out in 2005??? Like what the f**k were these guys doing in 2005 lmao. It’s got this almost strained, almost industrial quality to it. Hard to pigeonhole, but its got the chugs of its early 2000s brethren, but feels so much more forward-thinking. I don’t know man, it’s got this serious quality that I really enjoy. Just listen to it!
It has these shot song play lengths, but also a few hefty ones. It has this almost AA quality in the way that it truly is a metal record, but put in so much breakdown and bounce. It’s simultaneously taking itself super seriously and still having a lot of fun. It feels like how ELM has Primitive Man AND Vermin Womb - its a lot of similar feeling elements but presented in a slower, uneasy pacing. You can kind of sit back and take this record in, but then you get jumpscared by these little grins flourishes where we get some speed. It’s just pure guitar guy riffing down the fretboard but without blastbeats. It feels like if the SYNT that made intervals was a band and Parasite didn’t exist. This feels like the demo of the band who only made Intervals if that makes sense! It’s grind in style, but not in practice. It’s such a weird release and has such a weird tone, haha. You can see why it made so much since on Debello - they were nothing if not forward thinking!
Truly a seminal piece for an HIARGL fan, or anyone who is a Carroll fanboy (guilty!). It’s one of the final pieces of me finishing my altar to Debello. It’s a celebration of the beautiful precursor to HIARGL. It’s another notch in Carroll’s WV alumni belt. It’s everything I love to do with WV, and I’m so happy I have another cool deep cut to put out! I know doing blockbuster deathcore stuff is fun, but this is the scope of stuff that really gives me a ton of joy - the WV community being able to come together and allow me to indulge and release something like this, haha.
Speaking of indulgences, I’ve been dying to show someone this art since it was finished back in 2023. Honestly one of my favorite ones every and you’ll be seeing a lot more of Davide Rankore! The OG cover was so captivating in how much it *didn’t* show, so I really wanted to go the other direction and do some hyper detail. Just a mess of texture on this, and Kai at Lab.13 really wen the extra mile on the layout - so many cool little flourishes and details as you open up the packaging on this. One of the best layouts this year! Ah! It rocks so hard!
Audio was once again handled by Zach at Third Eye. Not that you have a crazy point of reference, BUT if for some reason you’ve been spinning this album for the past 20 years, I think you’ll notice some BIG changes, haha.
This will also be a fun drop because for the first time ever we’ll be doing a DOUBLE DISTRO WHAT DAWG! Thats right! The /100 will be split up between Meteor Gem and Total Dissonance Worship! Wow! Each store will have some cool tweaks on the packaging - a must for any true fan of Rope, dissonance, and big tone! This really is a heritage release, and I’m so excited by all the excitement from Simon at TDW and Mike at MG. I think this one is going to be a lot of fun!
This one-time pressing is limited to 300 copies across 5 variants:
50 Stammer (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Gravecrusher (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Endorphin (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Sig of the Morbid (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Total Dissonance Worship Edition (Handmade)
50 Meteor Gem Edition (Handmade)
All of this housed in:
1.5x thickness Matte single pocket jackets
Double sided, gatefold matte full color insert
Black polylined innersleeves
Gold foil numbering
Stuffed into polybags
Hype Sticker’d
Custom WV Mailers
Matching WV Album art sticker
These records are IN HAND and ready to ship! Order go live on September 20th at 1:00pm CST. See you there!
