BLACK SHEEP WALL - Songs for the Enamel Queen

BLACK SHEEP WALL: sludgecore kings return after five years with new album "Songs for the Enamel Queen"; new track streaming

Southern California's Black Sheep Wall returns with its first new album in five years: the magnificently intense and experimental Songs for the Enamel Queen, out February 26th on Silent Pendulum Records.

Stream the album's first single, "Concrete God," here:
https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-the-enamel-queen

From Moorpark, California, a small town nestled a few miles north of LA, Black Sheep Wall formed in the mid-'00s when the members were still in high school. "The band itself was bred from the sheer boredom of growing up in a place like Moorpark," says founder Brandon Gillichbauer, who began as the bassist and now fronts the band.

Through its first decade of existence, Black Sheep Wall made its name by way of glacial-paced nihilism and groove – a dark and hypnotic style of sludge-smeared hardcore – releasing music via Season of Mist and playing with the likes of Converge, High on Fire, and A Life Once Lost.

Turbulence between band members led to lineup changes and eventually a long hiatus. Five years after the 2015 release of I'm Going to Kill Myself, Black Sheep Wall returns now, reformed and rejuvenated, with the most compelling work of its career: Songs for the Enamel Queen.

Almost 60 minutes of music, Songs for the Enamel Queen sustains white-knuckle intensity, from start to finish, and defies categorization through the entire ride. As if to announce the band's return with a bang, the album opens with the 2-minute slalom-to hell, "Human Shaped Hole," then follows up with a 13-minute epic, "New Measures of Failure." Four of the album's seven songs clock in above the 10-minute mark, yet every second drives forward with purpose. 

Black Sheep Wall's colossally heavy brand of hypno-dirge can be traced to bands like Neurosis and Isis, but the band brings a sense of savagery beyond what most peers in that genre possess. Nasty riffs surge like tidal waves, propelled by octopus drumming and raw, wrathful vocals. Of the album's lyrics, Gillichbauer says: "The lyrics are a documentation of my life during the five years between our last album and this one. Addiction and depression have been my most committed and intimate relationships to date, destroying my connections with my friends, this band, and myself."

Most notably, what separates Black Sheep Wall from the pack, is its musical freedom. On Songs for the Enamel Queen, the band expresses this freedom in new and wonderful ways. For example: a Slint-style, spoken word section on "New Measures of Failure"; a long, moody "waltz," led by a mournful trumpet, on "Ren"; demonic vocals, straight out of Hellraiser, on "Mr. Gone." Coloring far outside the lines, Black Sheep Wall has created a dramatic listening experience that is both unexpected and riveting, and shows itself to be a band with a unique identity all its own. Gillichbauer states: "This album was our first chance to be more dynamic than we had ever been in the past. We briefly flirted with other elements like melody and more intricate song writing on other records, but our bread and butter had always been the syncopated one-note style riff with a doom/sludge element. I think we felt married to that style and neglected truly expanding until now."

Songs for the Enamel Queen was recorded, mixed and mastered by Daniel Braunstein (Volumes) at DB Music Studios in Woodland Hills, CA.

Silent Pendulum Records, the label founded by The Number Twelve Looks Like You drummer Michael Kadnar, has released albums by The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Into the Moat, and more. Kadnar states: "I've been very fortunate to be able to work with my childhood heroes and many of the musicians I grew up listening to and admiring. Today is another monumental and exciting day for me. I'm very proud to announce Black Sheep Wall's next studio album, Songs for the Enamel Queen. I'm so grateful that these guys trusted me to complete their vision for this album. We are also very excited to announce our partnership with our friends at Evil Greed, who will be offering a limited edition European vinyl variant. We will be offering our back catalog and more EU exclusives in 2021."

Pre-order US vinyl variants, here:

https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-the-enamel-queen

Pre-order EU vinyl variant, here:

https://evilgreed.net/collections/silent-pendulum

Tracklist:
1) Human Shaped Hole
2) New Measures of Failure
3) Concrete God
4) Ballad of a Flawed Animal
5) Ren
6) Mr. Gone
7) Prayer Sheet for Wound and Nail

Lineup:
Brandon Gillichbauer - vocals
Andrew Hulle - guitar
Scott Turner - guitar

Juan Hernandez Cruz - bass *

Jackson Thompson - drums

* Bass on the album was performed by Jason Grissinger; Juan Hernandez Cruz replaced Grissinger after the recording of the album.

Discography:
I Am God Songs (2008, Shelsmusic)
No Matter Where It Ends (2012, Season of Mist)
It Begins Again EP (2013, Season of Mist)
I'm Going to Kill Myself (2015, Season of Mist)
Songs for the Enamel Queen (2020. Silent Pendulum Records)

Cover art by Jeff Rogers
Photos by Alex Brown