Glacial Tomb sign to Prosthetic Records, announce new album and share lead single

Denver, CO self-described sludge corrupted death metal band GLACIAL TOMB has today announced their signing to Prosthetic Records. GLACIAL TOMB will release their forthcoming sophomore album, Lightless Expanse, via the Los Angeles label on September 20. Alongside the signing and album announcement, the band are currently premiering the lead single, Abyssal Host, and its accompanying lyric video via Decibel.

Speaking on the album announcement, GLACIAL TOMB vocalist / guitarist Ben Hutcherson comments:

“Three and a half years. From the day that Dave (Small, bass) shared the riffs that eventually became Worldsflesh to the evening we approved the final mixes of Lightless Expanse with Arthur Rizik last fall, three and a half years passed. In that time, our connection to–and appreciation of–this music grew stronger as the world around us continued to collapse. Despite the inescapable reminders of our proximity to the apocalypse, we also experienced moments of absolute joy in those years. Those moments of light proved to be just as essential to creating this record as the feelings of dread and anger, though the influence of the latter is certainly more immediate.

“I began writing the lyrics without a clear sense of the lyrical heart of these songs; I only knew that I wanted to reflect on the nature of suffering–the suffering guaranteed to each of us from the moment we draw our first breath. As the music became more complex and as the myriad emotions we sought to invoke became more visceral, I pushed myself to write a story–or, to be more precise, a story of and about stories–that was not simply a lamentation of the horrors of consciousness. I wanted the lyrics to reflect the journey that the three of us have been on, both individually and collectively, as we have grown to better understand the shape of this world and our place(s) in it. I wanted to see the world through the eyes of someone or something that would see this planet for what it is. I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to just be bitter about the pain of existence; I needed to articulate just how futile humanity’s aspirations for salvation truly are and, hopefully, to find some sort of serenity in that understanding.”

Of Abyssal Host, Hutcherson adds:

“Abyssal Host is a d-beat rager about cosmic forces beyond humankind’s comprehension. One of the central themes of the record is that we, as a species, are continually undone by our hubris yet we seem unwilling and/or unable to acknowledge the futility of control in all its forms. There is serenity in surrender, yet our species seemingly cannot help but fetishize martyrdom. What would happen if a person who doesn’t want any part of this world became host to something so grand, so divine, that they became an unwitting martyr?”

Invigorated by new bass player David Small‘s presence, the group meticulously crafted Lightless Expanse throughout 2021 and 2022. Founding members Ben Hutcherson and Michael Salazar (drums) embraced the new dynamic and fresh musical perspective Small brought to the band, with Hutcherson and Small‘s work together in Khemmis no doubt fueling their creative alchemy.

Lightless Expanse Tracklist:
1. Stygian Abattoir
2. Voidwomb
3. Enshrined in Concrete
4. Abyssal Host
5. Sanctuary
6. Seraphic Mutilation
7. Worldsflesh
8. Wound of Existence
9. The Lightless Expanse

The resulting album is an unflinching examination of the horrors of existence, captured with authenticity and meticulous attention to detail. The songs were produced and engineered by Hutcherson, with drums recorded at The Band Cave in Denver and everything else tracked at his home studio. In an era of hyper-quantized, soulless extreme music that prioritises perfection above all else, the trio rehearsed relentlessly throughout 2022 before they began tracking in Spring 2023. They enlisted the renowned mixing and mastering skills of Arthur Rizk to realise their collective vision for this record.

The narrative arc that runs through the nine blistering tracks juxtaposes everyday suffering with nigh-ineffable cosmic horror; mental illness, grief, social isolation, and a longing for meaning all take the form of celestial beings and deific machinations. Hutcherson‘s lyrics are inspired by writers such as Thomas Ligotti, Philipp Mainländer, Peter Wessel Zapffe, and Alan Watts.

These bleak themes are wrapped up in a bruising package of dissonant death metal intensity, shot through with a flourish of black metal grandiosity. Whilst the aforementioned dedication to arranging things ‘just so’ gives a technical and cerebral edge to their sound, the choruses are laden with soaring melodic hooks, satisfying the most riff-hungry amongst us. GLACIAL TOMB refuses to fit neatly within the parameters of any one genre, and their sound is all the richer for it. Lightless Expanse is a multi-layered exploration of heavy metal in all its complex and cathartic glory.