MASCOT RECORDS AND NINE SHRINES ANNOUNCE APRIL 26 GLOBAL RELEASE DATE FOR DEBUT STUDIO ALBUM RETRIBUTION THERAPY

Lead Video “Nimrod” Premieres Here: https://youtu.be/rbnabBE_Dlk

Pre-Order Live Here: http://smarturl.it/Nine-Shrines 

 

Cleveland, OH — Mascot Records and Nine Shrines have announced an April 26 global release date for the band’s debut studio album RETRIBUTION THERAPY.  Nine Shrines blend the most extreme elements of active-rock/metal-core with well-crafted, melodic songwriting.  2017’s debut Misery EP (Mascot) with the single/video “King of Mercy” surpassed one million Spotify streams, while SiriusXM Octane kept the song in rotation for six weeks just because they liked it.  Sharing the stage with Volbeat, Halestorm, Chimaira, Shinedown, All That Remains, and Nonpoint made waves nationwide, while building anticipcation for this debut across the globe.

 

This Cleveland quintet arose on the scene in 2014 from the ashes of aggressive 00’s Ohio band pedigree:  drummer Andrew Wetzel (Attack Attack!), bassist Devon Voisine and lead guitarist Andrew Baylis, (Life on Repeat), rhythm guitarist Even McKeever (Downplay), and singer Chris Parketny (Strangers to Wolves).  Nine Shrines grew from their previous efforts to build something powerful:  “My first band got put through the meat-grinder,” Andrew admits.  “It all went to hell, and I’d just turned 21.  Everyone in this band had similar experiences.  It’s a huge learning curve.  It wears on you, but you never know how things are gonna go.  There’s no way to know that in advance. With this band, there’s a real sense of unity.” 

 

Nine Shrines approach their craft full-force and cut no corners.  “Look at all the great bands from the late 90s early 00s era,” Andrew offers.  “Like Powerman 5000, everything about them was cool:  the look, the sound, and the performance were all unique.  We do our personal best to push the boundaries.”

 

Retribution Therapy was produced by Dan Korneff (My Chemical Romance, I Prevail, Pierce The Veil, All that Remains, Papa Roach).  The first single “Nimrod” features a ghoulish voodoo-doll-themed video directed by Scott Hansen (Sevendust, Motionless In White, A Day To Remember).  Andrew enthuses over the final product:  “Working with Dan was a best-case scenario.  He cares as much or more than any of us.  He’s the “X factor” and he’s behind us 110%. His level of excitement was so inspiring.  He’s so emotionally invested — everything we did, he wanted to make it more intense.”  

 

“He is all about not settling for just any sound or process that wasn’t the very best we can possibly do.  Unless the performance was incredible, he was not happy.  Dan creates much of his own one-of-a-kind gear, like limiters and compressors, and soldering circuit-boards, to get that sound.   He’s a huge drum guy, and I think it shows — the mix was incredible.”  

 

2019 may be the year of Nine Shrines.  The pent-up ferocity exorcized on Retribution Therapy feels ready to explode:  “Writing these songs have been just as much therapy as it is an outlet for the kids listening,” Chris concedes.  “We approach these songs with a real sense of catharsis.  This is a huge outlet for us to vent.  Like onstage, something overtakes you.”

 

“This is the only thing I wanna do and can do,” Andrew concludes. “Our whole career, everything we’ve been doing for the last five years, has been building to this record.  This is the best thing I’ve done musically in my life — literally everything has built up to this point.  We wanna infect you, and we want you to celebrate the work we’ve done.  I’m over the moon to get this motherfucker out.”

 

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ART: http://mlgpress.com/nine-shrines/retribution-therapy

 

RETRIBUTION THERAPY CUT-BY-CUT INSIGHTS:

“Nimrod”

Chris Parketny:  “Nimrod” is a character, our mascot.  It’s the opening song and a good introduction to what’s about to happen. “Nimrod” is a revenge song — a, “you think you’ve crushed me, but now the tables have turned” type thing.  It’s about someone who’s devalued you and worn you down and think they’ve destroyed you.  It’s those bad things that define you — whether you let them destroy you or use them to get stronger is up to you.

 

“Retribution Therapy”

Andrew Wetzel:  “Retribution Therapy” is a metaphor for this band.  It’s a declaration of intent.  It’s also the album title because it’s like our mission statement.  We wanna come at you full force.  Our music is our revenge, but it makes no sense to have physical revenge on people.  Our music is a vehicle for our retribution.

 

“Chain Reaction” 

Andrew:  This is a song about a person who fucks you over, and they fired the first shot.  We’re saying, “You have no idea what you’ve just done.”  It’s a fight song, like two MMA fighters going at it, with lyrics like “get ready for some foul play.”

 

“Ringworm” 

Chris:  “Ringworm” is a really heavy, extreme hard rock song.  My lyrics here are not really anti-religion, but rather questioning of religious leaders.  The problem is less about the infallibility of God, and more about the fallibility of the men who interpret it.

 

“Happy Happy” 

Andrew:  This is a song about being a weird freak, and growing up with other people picking on you.  It’s about learning to love yourself as an outcast.  So much of life’s journey is bittersweet — it pushes you, but it also eats you alive.

 

“Dead”

Chris:  There’s not much to say about a song called “Dead.”  It’s about a friend or relationship that keeps bringing you down — and you’ve gotta leave that bad situation fast.

 

“Hymn”/“Conjure” 

Andrew:  “Hymn” is the opening instrumental to “Conjure.”  This one is very personal to us.  It’s specifically about our struggle to be musicians.  It’s got the lyric, “Spread out my wings just to die.”  You take a huge risk when you expose yourself through your art and music, and you don’t know if people will accept or reject or attack you.  It’s comparable to drug addiction – and music is the drug.

 

“Pretty Little Psycho”

Andrew:  This is a little more light-hearted if you will, about that relationship dynamic.  If we wanna be a rock band, we wanna have our fun rock and roll song about a crazy girl.  This is an aggressive record, and we wanted to show that were not all doom and gloom and murder and rainclouds.

 

“Ghost” 

Andrew:  “This is the last song we recorded in the studio for this album.  Everyone was tired and homesick and wanted to go home.  I started thinking, “Do I really even wanna go home?”   That’s the dilemma you run into as a musician.  When you’re at home, all you wanna do is go on tour.  And when you leave on the road — especially as an impressionable young man — you return home as this alien.  After experiencing this whole new world, you’re never the same again.  It’s a real struggle.

 

“Sick Like Me”

Chris:  This one is about a woman, an ex-girlfriend song, for sure.  For specific personal reasons, I wanted the lyrics to have a medical vibe.  The main concept behind it all being, “they treat you to make you better but in fact they make things far worse.”

 

“Counterfeit” 

Andrew:  “Counterfeit” is about the pain of artistic pursuit, when you’re going for it, trying to be a musician.  You call everything into question.  Sometimes it just kills you, and you want someone to bury you.  You get so use to traveling and performing, that you’re no longer even sure of who you are.