An industrial city situated in Northeastern Pennsylvania, you could say Scranton quietly prides itself on a tried-and-true Rust Belt blue-collar work ethic.  For their fourth full-length album and first for Roadrunner Records Graveyard Shift, Motionless In White—Chris Motionless [Vocals], Ricky Horror [Guitar], Ryan Sitkowski [Guitar], Ghost [Bass], and Vinny Mauro [Drums]—dug into the roots of their hometown’s pervasive attitude.  Since 2006, that ethos has fueled Motionless In White’s rise to the upper echelon of modern rock. Albums such as 2010’s Creatures and Infamous in 2012 would galvanize a rabid fan base around the quintet. During 2014, Reincarnate reached new heights, bowing at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 and claiming #1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart. The title track and lead single turned into a Top 20 Active Rock smash and notched 13.2 million YouTube views and 9.8 million Spotify streams. Simultaneously, they have shared stages alongside everyone from Slipknot, Korn, and Breaking Benjamin to A Day To Remember and Marilyn Manson in addition to making arresting festival appearances at Warped Tour, Aftershock, Rock On The Range, Rock Allegiance, and beyond.  Ultimately, Motionless In White have the power to electrify a new love for rock music in the process. “We’re quite a simple band in terms of our intent,” he leaves off. “Turn off your head, detach from reality, listen to the music, and enjoy the songs. That’s what we’re encouraging. We want to give people something to latch on to away from life’s bullshit. I hope they walk away feeling their love for music was either restored or upheld.”

“The whole winter, the temperature was in the low teens. Utterly freezing,” says Every Time I Die’s frontman Keith Buckley regarding the months that yielded their eighth full-length album. Such is the price you pay for living in Buffalo, NY. Granted, the weather seems like a rather mundane topic for the normally acerbic and irreverent vocalist, but even the most acid-tongued hardcore band must have their sociable side, right? But Buckley and his cohorts Jordan Buckley (guitar), Andy Williams (guitar), Daniel Davison (drums), and Steve Micciche (bass) aren’t so hard up for pathos at this point that they’re grumbling about the temperature outside. If anything, Low Teens is their most poignant and impassioned album in a career full of sardonic illuminations and pit-inciting fervor. The icy backdrop of Buffalo underscores a winter of dramatic change. Most notably, the band was on tour in Toronto in December when Keith received a phone call that his wife was in the hospital with a life-threatening pregnancy complication. It was a harrowing night as Buckley left the tour and raced home to overwhelming uncertainty. “I was facing death, not in a symbolic sort of ‘cyclical change’ metaphor but literally,” says Buckley with his token literary-minded self-awareness. “If I lost my wife, I would have to raise my daughter for her. If I lost my daughter, my wife and I would be forced to try and cope. But if I lost them both my life would end and I would see to it. Once I knew that in my heart it became the only certainty I had, and that was a relief.” Both wife and daughter survived the ordeal, but the moment of crisis had a lasting impact on Buckley and an inevitable role in shaping the lyrical scope of Low Teens. “It was abject helplessness, and that entirely new feeling opened up a lot of questions about place and purpose. I honestly don't think that's too far off from the lyrical content of our other songs but anyone that saw the news knows the source this time. They know that this is a response to a very specific event and not just a dude shoehorning an existential crisis into his routine for some interesting imagery.” When Buckley yells “untimely ripped into this world, I was born again as a girl” in the searing ring-the-alarm track “Petal”, there is no metaphor, no thinly veiled allegory. The birth of his daughter literally saved his life. Lyrical motifs aside, other big changes were afoot during that Buffalo winter. From a sonic standpoint, the most crucial development was writing with new drummer Daniel Davison. Fans of Every Time I Die’s caustic combination of savage metallic hardcore and pentatonic riff-laden classic rock will not be disappointed by Low Teens’ thrash attacks and Southern-boogie breakdowns. But Davison’s heft, dexterity, and creativity pushed the band forward. “Daniel joined and not only further unlocked Andy and Jordan and Steve's potential but put such a unique force behind the band's dynamic,” Buckley says of his new bandmate. “I know that everything that has happened is necessary for what is presently happening but, man, to think about what the band might have been like if we had him sooner—private jets, shows on the damn moon.” You can hear this new energy on “Glitches”, which blazes with the kind of raw basement hardcore that originally catalyzed the group, but rages with a pinpoint accuracy beyond any meager hardcore band’s reach. “C++” marries desert rock croons, Unbroken’s metallic riffage, and a pile-driving chorus into a relentless hook-laden anthem. “The Coin Has A Say” operates as an extremity test, with every gear-shift somehow pushing the band into inexplicably heavier territories. Yes, Every Time I Die has always juggled hardcore urgency, metal brutalism, and rock melodies, but never has it felt this instinctive or this vicious. Low Teens’ razor-sharp sound and auditory barbarism was also abetted by engineer and producer Will Putney (Acacia Strain, Body Count, Exhumed). Every Time I Die have always opted to avoid complacency and mix things up with the recording process, but Putney proved to be an even more valuable component to the album than expected. “We just like change,” says Buckley. “Will had a hunger we found exciting. He was willing to do whatever it took to make this record which included coming to Buffalo and working in a strange studio. If he was willing to step out of his comfort zone, so were we. And I definitely don't mean to disparage any other producer we've had but I have never in my life heard so many incredible ideas for an Every Time I Die record come from one man.” And indeed, Putney adeptly captured the band’s dichotomic ability to juggle melody and malice. Low Teens’ guest vocalists further demonstrate these polarized extremes, with formidable bellower Tim Singer (Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye, No Escape) roaring alongside Buckley on opening track “Fear and Trembling” and longtime friend Brendan Urie (Panic! at the Disco) providing a melodic counterpoint on “It Remembers”. Change may be a welcome element to Every Time I Die’s creative process when it comes to studio personnel, but family crises and rotating band members can be debilitating developments. The pressure drop that yielded Low Teens could have crippled a lesser band, but Every Time I Die weathered the winter to deliver their strongest offering to date because of, not in spite of, these hardships and roadblocks. Epitaph Records is proud to release Every Time I Die’s eighth album Low Teens on September 23rd. 

Through the art of intricate song writing and elaborate story telling, Boston MA's Ice Nine Kills have the ability to engage and captivate listeners, winning over a fanatical legion of followers across the nation. Seamlessly weaving aggressive post-hardcore with soaring melodies, the ferocious four-piece utilizes multi-textured guitar hooks, a dual vocal attack, complex orchestral arrangements and a pummeling rhythm section, which grabs the listener by the throat and refuses to let go. The drive and dedication of Ice Nine Kills have made a lasting impression on fans both sonically and through their explosive live show, creating a kinetic energy through each performance. Armed with a new collection of songs, Ice Nine Kills stand poised for their biggest chapter yet.

Like Moths To Flames conjure the type of anthems that move crowds and evoke each listener’s deeply rooted passions, as evidenced by the millions of streams accumulated by songs like “Bury Your Pain,” “No King,” “The Worst in Me,” “Wither,” and “You Won’t Be Missed” (which alone accounts for 5 million views on YouTube). Tours with bands like All That Remains, The Devil Wears Prada, and Memphis May Fire cemented their status as a live act worthy of admiration. Album debuts on the Billboard 200 chart; high-profile stints on Vans Warped Tour, The AP Tour, Scream It Like You Mean It; headlining tours supported by bands like Crown The Empire, The Color Morale, and Palisades; the five-piece Columbus, Ohio metalcore monster is among the standard bearers of the genre. Produced by Erik Ron (Attila, New Years Day, Set It Off), Dark Divine is the breathtaking result of experience, enthusiasm, and renewed vigor, an effort destined to ensure longevity for the band within an underground scene dominated by fading trends. Fronted by vocalist Chris Roetter and cofounding member Aaron Evans (bass/vocals), Like Moths To Flames have hit a creative high on album number four. It’s an electrifying showcase for what Roetter, Evans, Jeremy Smith (guitar), Zach Pishney (guitar), and Greg Diamond (drums) can achieve, with dedication and the hard won lessons learned while on the road.  Across four albums, Like Moths To Flames have enlisted friends and contemporaries from bands like Silverstein and the Amity Affliction as guests, while trading in massive breakdowns, thrashing riffs, and melodic might, adeptly moving between crushing brutality and soaring catchiness with powerful energy.  Alternative Press heralded the band’s sophomore set, An Eye for An Eye (2013), as “catchier, more anthemic and less dependent on easy ‘brutality’ than its predecessor,” the band’s head-turning debut album, When We Don’t Exist (2011), which Mind Equals Blown declared a “rage fest” for a “destructive mood.” Completing a trilogy of albums produced by Will Putney (Every Time I Die, Knocked Loose, Fit For A King), The Dying Things We Live For was a swift and brutal shot across the bow against self-serving commercialism and contrived “evolution,” concentrating the darkest and angriest elements of the band’s sound into their heaviest album thus far. Having delivered the foundational mission statement, the group set their sights on bigger creative horizons and reinvention.  After all, the band’s versatility was evident when they accepted an invitation to participate in the popular Punk Goes Pop series, delivering a vibrantly confident cover of “Some Nights” by Fun. Dark Divine scratches the creative itch with broader dynamics and an empowering outlook, without sacrificing the group’s signature heaviness, striking a difficult balance many bands fail to execute.  The album’s title track demonstrates many of the album’s strengths in short order, delivering the goods with many of the elements Like Moths To Flames set out to explore. “Shallow Truth for Shallow Minds” jettisons the more linear thinking of the band’s previous work in favor of greater atmosphere, offering a rollercoaster ride through a variety of expressive styles and flourishes. “Empty the Same” is a vibe soaked foray into balladry, crystalizing the fearless spirit that coalesced into Dark Divine, a record that’s less melancholy and angrily self-reflective lyrically than its predecessor, inviting listeners inside with new warmth. Other parts of the record are reminiscent of seminal groundbreaking records from influential bands like Senses Fail and others who laid the foundation for Like Moths To Flames, including their friends in The Devil Wears Prada.  It all amounts to a courageous and uplifting album that will satisfy old-school fans of Like Moths To Flames, audiences who devour every release from bands like August Burns Red, and future disciples alike. Dark Divine is a massive step toward ensuring the band leaves a legacy, opening the door to a long career doing what they’ve wanted to do from the very beginning: connecting with people around the world through the cathartic and impassioned power of heavy music.