Chicago, Illinois-based sludge/doom metal trio SHRINEBURNER will release their debut album, Hymns Of Despair, on September 11th, unveiling the record's details alongside preorders and the lead single, "Spectral Cataclysm."
Crushing riffs and seething melodies drive SHRINEBURNER's abyssal doom/sludge metal, shot through with psychedelic, cosmic, and blackened elements. Built around music that constantly builds and riffs that mesmerize, the trio have carved out their own niche in Chicago's metal scene, delivering a wall of amps, searing guitar and bass tones, heavily stricken drums, and pummeling vocals.
SHRINEBURNER formed in 2023 as a creative outlet for guitarist/vocalist Peter Norman and drummer Brent Favata, built on a wall-of-sound approach to mantra-like riff writing and a shared disdain for organized religion — a combination that produced their 2024 debut EP, Solitude. With Favata's other projects becoming more demanding, Norman expanded the band to a trio, adding CJ Johnson on bass and Edward Hamel on drums. 2025 brought a more dynamic, fleshed-out approach while retaining the band's mantra-like core, and the group quickly began writing what would become Hymns Of Despair.
The album explores dark topics — worthlessness in a dying world, organized religion as an ever-growing plague, and the general anxieties of existence — while remaining melodic, at times even uplifting, offering a trance-like listening experience.
Hymns Of Despair was recorded and mixed by Matt Russell at Altered States in Chicago, mastered by Edward Hamel at Identity Mastering, and completed with cover art by Joshua Hondros. FFO CONAN, UFOMAMMUT, AMAROK, HUSH, EVOKEN, BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS, and USNEA.
"We find 'Spectral Cataclysm' to be an in-depth glimpse into how the dynamics of the band have shifted to pushing a genre-less writing style, while retaining the band's crushing heaviness and hypnotic melodies," says Peter Norman of the album's lead single. "The track is focused on building musically, coupled with an uplifting clean section that contradicts the general lyrical theme of uneasiness in a modern world. We feel it to be important not to let the darkness of things become all-encompassing."
SHRINEBURNER will independently release Hymns Of Despair on September 11th digitally and on CD, with a vinyl pressing to follow later.
Track listing:
- Void Of Guilt
- Spectral Cataclysm
- Bodies Dragged To Sunlight
- Slow Death Chant
- An Ocean Of Broken Hope
- Hymn Of Despair
Order & Stream Hymns Of Despair: Bandcamp