Knoxville, TN sludgy post-hardcore band Generation of Vipers are releasing their first album in 10 years, Guilt Shrine, digitally on August 23 via Translation Loss, with a vinyl release coming on October 11 (pre-order). It was recorded and mixed by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, and it includes recent single “Lux Inversion,” as well as the new “Joyless Grails,” which opens the album and premieres in this post. Both songs find the band in great form, sounding as powerful, heavy, and throat-shredding as they were when they left off with us a decade ago. About this new one, vocalist/guitarist Josh Holt says:
“Joyless Grails” is a song about finding meaning in your own existence, when feelings of failure and dissolution are the only constant around you at every turn. It is about convincing yourself that no matter what, you will always feel overtaken by these very basic human experiences of feeling like you are never enough, constantly disappointing the people you care about the most, and that the power that these negative thoughts carry with them is so suffocating that you can’t see anything beyond it. It’s one of the first songs we wrote for the album and I think it sets the tone for the whole record, which is ultimately about the transformative power of grief and the lies we tell ourselves to avoid having to process those complex feelings.
Listen:
Tracklist
1. Joyless Grails
2. In The Wilderness
3. Elijah
4. Lux Inversion
5. Doesn’t Mean Anything
6. A Quiet Life
7. Guilt Shrine