SHRINEBURNER releases debut LP, Hymns Of Despair, on September 11th!

Chicago, Illinois-based SHRINEBURNER will deliver their monolithic debut album, Hymns Of Despair, on September 11th, today unveiling the record’s details including preorders and the lead single, “Spectral Cataclysm.”

 Crushing riffs and seething melodies drive the earthquake-inducing trio SHRINEBURNER, spewing forth a sonic glacier of abyssal doom/sludge metal infused with fringes of psychedelic, cosmic, blackened elements. With a heavy focus on music that is constantly building and riffs that mesmerize audiences, the trio has carved out their own niche in Chicago’s ever-present metal scene. Audiences have come to expect 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, focusing heavily on a wall-of-sound approach to mantra-like riff writing. This, coupled with a general disdain for the evils of organized religion, resulted in the 2024 release of their debut EP, Solitude.

Eventually opting for a fuller approach, and with Favata’s other projects becoming more demanding, Norman expanded the band to a trio. With the addition of CJ Johnson on bass, and Edward Hamel taking over on drums, 2025 was a big year of growth for SHRINEBURNER. A more dynamic and fleshed-out approach was immediately evident, while still retaining the mantra-like sounds listeners had grown to expect. The group very quickly began to write what would eventually become their first full-length release, which now arrives with Hymns Of Despair.

 SHRINEBURNER frequently explores dark topics like general worthlessness in a dying world, organized religion being an ever-growing plague, and the general anxieties of existence on the album; however, musically, the band remains melodic, at times even uplifting. These factors are more present than ever before on Hymns Of Despair, the album rupturing with emotive devastation; well-felt dregs of hope within an earthmoving flow of brutalizing auditory collapse. This juxtaposition of themes offers listeners a trance-like sensory experience, especially live with the full power of the band’s crushing volume truly endured.

 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 painted by Joshua Hondros. FFO Conan, Ufomammut, Amarok, Hush, Evoken, Black Shape Of Nexus, and Usnea are hereby advised to hear SHRINEBURNER’s Hymns Of Despair.

Stream / Buy / Download the album on Bandcamp

“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,” Peter Norman reveals with 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:

Peter Norman – guitar, vocals

Edward Hamel – drums

CJ Johnson – bass

SHRINEBURNER:

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Photo by © Tom Birch