Photo by Holden Kudla
Denver, Colorado-based melodic death metal collective NIGHTWRAITH will release their latest full-length, Offering, on March 25th through Reaping Scythe Records, today unveiling the record’s artwork, track listing, and first video/single.
NIGHTWRAITH explores the death metal genre with an eclectic and intuitive approach. Their music encompasses poignant themes: seeking the sublime in nature, being genuine in a deceptive world, and living with the idea of death—concepts that unite us all as people. Using haunting melodies and triumphant anthems, NIGHTWRAITH offers listeners a sonic pilgrimage into the heart of being human.
A sonic experience that is both aggressive and textural, the songwriting on Offering is deliberate, concise, and thoughtful, while remaining heavy enough to please the death metal audience for which it was intended. Pulling inspiration from a wide array of bands and genres, NIGHTWRAITH has been refined into something truly unique. “It’s like we took all the heavy parts from bands like Carcass and Enslaved and combined it with the warmth of classic bands like Thin Lizzy and Blue Oyster Cult,” explains founding member Benjamin Pitts. “It has been really fun inserting rock guitar and organ tones into a genre that typically avoids these types of sounds.”
“This is probably the most ambitious album I have ever worked on and we had full control of the production,” he continues. “We took a very DIY approach and tried a lot of things that we wouldn’t have considered in the past. For example, we turned the gain way down on all of the rhythm guitars and added additional gain on the organ to compensate. Our mastering engineer Pete deBoer also made the final product sound great by mastering it to 1/2” tape, something I’ve always wanted to do. This is the album that we’ve always wanted to make. From start to finish it was about 3 years of work, I am so excited for people to finally hear these songs!”
“This album was a keyboard and sound design dream,” adds keyboardist Caleb José Tardio. “I’ve always wanted to combine a heavy project with Vangelis synths and Lonnie Smith organs, and ‘Offering’ was an opportunity to do just that.”
In advance of the record’s release, today the band is pleased to unveil a video for “Hedonic Adaptation.”
Notes Pitts, “We are obviously inspired by a bunch of ‘80s heavy metal and I love when songs kick off with a hot lead, so the goal was to do this in our own way as a nod to the genre. At the time, we didn’t intend for it to be the first proper song on the album, but we all agreed that this was a great way to set the tone and start things off on the right foot. As we were writing ‘Hedonic Adaptation,’ we realized it was borderline ‘dad rock,’ but in a good way. As a joke we coined the term ‘blackened dad-rock’ to describe the track, which is what inspired the storyline for the music video. It’s important to have fun and not take yourself seriously all the time!”
View NIGHTWRAITH’s “Hedonic Adaptation” video at THIS LOCATION.
Offering was tracked at The Shadow Temple, engineered, mixed, and produced by Jacob St. Amand and mastered by Pete deBoer at World Famous Studios. The record comes cloaked in the cover art of Jerianne Fulton and includes guest vocals by Grant Netzorg of In The Company Of Serpents on the track, “The Snake And The Rope.”
Offering will be release on CD, vinyl, cassette, and digital formats. Find preorders at Reaping Scythe Records at THIS LOCATION or the official NIGHTWRAITH Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.
Offering Track Listing:
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- Offering
- Hedonic Adaptation
- Beguiler
- Genesthai
- The Great Acceleration
- Shavano
- Maranasati
- The Snake And The Rope
NIGHTWRAITH was formed in 2016 without any preconceived notion of genre, allowing them to develop their sound organically. “Gone are the days of trying to be the fastest or heaviest band,” says Pitts. “We’ve already done bands like that and now we just want to write music that is fun to play and meaningful to us.”
The members of NIGHTWRAITH have been musical companions for over a decade in the Denver scene, but this lineup achieves its own unique approach to aggressive music, inspired by but not limited to the past. After releasing a self-titled album in 2019, NIGHTWRAITH gained notoriety and played shows with heavy hitters like Khemmis and Green Druid, but they were still developing their sound and being called to a new musical frontier.
During 2020, a year filled with anxiety and isolation, the band would finally have the time and freedom to create the next chapter of their story. As NIGHTWRAITH continues to evolve, it’s clear that their ambitions are soon to pay off. Offering is expressive, inventive, joyful, sorrowful, and will certainly inspire its listeners.
NIGHTWRAITH:
Benjamin Pitts – vocals, guitar
Isidro Soto – drums
Igor Panasewicz – guitar
Caleb Jose Tardio – keyboard, synth
Jerry Hilger – bass
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