PRISONER - Putrid|Obsolete

PRISONER: Richmond crew unites death metal, doom, crust, and industrial on sophomore album "Putrid | Obsolete"; new single "Leaden Tomb" mourns environmental collapse; official music video now streaming

From Richmond, Virginia, Prisoner announces the March 15th release of its sophomore album, Putrid | Obsolete, on Persistent Vision Records.

Pre-order Putrid | Obsolete, here:

https://persistentvisionrecords.com/collections/prisoner
https://deathwishinc.com/collections/persistent-vision

Stream the official music video for the album's first single, "Leaden Tomb" (out February 2nd on all digital platforms), here: 

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2024/02/01/track-premiere-prisoner-leaden-tomb/

Formed in Richmond in 2012, Prisoner first made its mark in 2017 with the release of debut album Beyond the Infinite, via Forcefield Records (Inter Arma, Yautja). Noisey's Kim Kelly hailed that album with these words: "A jagged slab of experimental, metallic hardcore... Roaring d-beats careen headfirst into rhythmic, thrumming industrial segments... An interesting example of how extreme metal and noise can artfully coalesce without losing the soul of either."

Seven years later, Prisoner has delivered Putrid | Obsolete, a monstrous new beast that carries that marriage of "extreme metal and noise" to new depths. On first single "Leaden Tomb," an industrial intro sets the stage for a death metal/crust punk stampede that leads to a free fall off a sludge-doom cliff. Sheets of electronics lace the track from start to finish, intensifying the experience into something all-consuming. Across all eight of Putrid | Obsolete's tracks, shades of Godflesh, Neurosis, and Napalm Death interweave into a nightmarish web of analog and digital punishment that fully captivates. 

Putrid | Obsolete was produced by the same team that worked on Beyond the Infinite – recorded and mixed by Ricky Olson (.gif from god, Enforced) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Nails, Body Void) – and yet, seven years down the line, the sound that these two have summoned is exponentially more earthquaking than what came before. Also contributing to the immensity of the new recording is newest member Adam Lake, who makes his recorded debut with Prisoner here and helps elevate the band's industrial and noise facets to a central position within the mix. Guitarist/vocalist Pete Rozsa states: "Before Adam was in the band, Justin [Hast, bassist] and I would have a few synths on stage and would play samples over top of a few songs. We decided we would benefit more from a full-time member committed to samples, programming, and synthesizer, and Adam filled that role perfectly."

All three of Prisoner's vocalists – Rozsa, Hast, and guitarist Dan Finn – contributed lyrics to Putrid | Obsolete, whose overarching theme is "the horrific failure of humanity," in Rozsa's words. He gives this statement about the meaning behind first single "Leaden Tomb": “At this point we are more than a few steps into a dystopian collapse. Technocracy, capitalism, war, and human beings' general hatred toward each other has put most of us into a defeating cycle while some centralize wealth and power. We have also built up our technology in certain ways that serve to perpetuate this cycle. ‘Leaden Tomb’ is specifically inspired by the collapse of the environment, caused by uncontrolled capitalism and the short-term desires of the ruling class poisoning the earth."

With a decade's worth of shows under its belt, playing with the likes of Full of Hell and Windhand, Prisoner embarks on an East Coast tour with Listless in March.

Prisoner's Putrid | Obsolete kicks off a year's worth of crucial releases from Persistent Vision Records, the new, Richmond-based label owned by Paul Hansbarger, whose former label, Perpetual Motion Machine, released music in the ‘00s by such greats as Pageninetynine, Thou, and Kowloon Walled City. Stay tuned for updates.

Tracklist:
1) Flesh Dirge
2) Pool of Disgust
3) The Horde
4) Shroud
5) Leaden Tomb
6) Pathogenesis
7) Entity
8) Nanodeath

RIYL:
Godflesh, Neurosis, Napalm Death, Meathook Seed, His Hero Is Gone, Nails, Candy

Lineup:
Pete Rozsa - guitars, vocals, synth, samples
Dan Finn - guitars, vocals
Justin Hast - bass, vocals
Joel Hansen - drums, synth, samples
Adam Lake - synth, samples, programming

Tour:

Mar 13 - Richmond, VA @ Fallout (w/ Listless)
Mar 14 - Norfolk, VA @ Chichos Backstage (w/ Listless)
Mar 15 - Raleigh, NC @ The Pourhouse (w/ Listless)
Mar 16 - Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records (w/ Listless)
Mar 17 - Birmingham, AL @ The Firehouse (w/ Listless)
Mar 18 - Atlanta, GA @ The Catacombs (w/ Listless)
Mar 19 - Tampa, FL @ Deviant Libation (w/ Listless)
Mar 20 - Hollywood, FL @ American Legion 92 (w/ Listless)
Mar 21 - Orlando, FL @ Stardust Video & Coffee (w/ Listless)
Mar 22 - Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern (w/ Listless)
Apr 27 - Richmond, VA @ Wonderland (w/ Disrotter)
May 8 - Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5 (w/ Rid of Me)
Jun 14 - Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana (w/ Nuclear Tomb)

Discography:
Putrid | Obsolete (2024, Persistent Vision Records)
Beyond the Infinite (2017, Forcefield Records)
Fear Is the Mind-Killer (2014, self-released)
- (2013, self-released)

Photos by Keith Baillargeon