NINE SHRINES

Mascot Records and Nine Shrines have announced an April 26 global release date for the band’s debut studio album RETRIBUTION THERAPY. NINE SHRINES blend the most extreme elements of active-rock/metal-core with well-crafted, melodic songwriting. 2017’s debut Misery EP (Mascot) with the single/video “King of Mercy” surpassed one million Spotify streams, while SiriusXM Octane kept the song in rotation for six weeks just because they liked it. Sharing the stage with Volbeat, Halestorm, Chimaira, Shinedown, All That Remains, and Nonpoint made waves nationwide, while building anticipation for this debut across the globe.

Check out the music video for ‘Nimrod’ here:

This Cleveland quintet arose on the scene in 2014 from the ashes of aggressive 00’s Ohio band pedigree: drummer Andrew Wetzel (Attack Attack!), bassist Devon Voisine and lead guitarist Andrew Baylis, (Life on Repeat), rhythm guitarist Even McKeever (Downplay), and singer Chris Parketny (Strangers to Wolves). Nine Shrines grew from their previous efforts to build something powerful: “My first band got put through the meat-grinder,” Andrew admits. “It all went to hell, and I’d just turned 21. Everyone in this band had similar experiences. It’s a huge learning curve. It wears on you, but you never know how things are gonna go. There’s no way to know that in advance. With this band, there’s a real sense of unity.”

Nine Shrines approach their craft full-force and cut no corners. “Look at all the great bands from the late 90s early 00s era,” Andrew offers. “Like Powerman 5000, everything about them was cool: the look, the sound, and the performance were all unique. We do our personall best to push the boundaries.”

Retribution Therapy was produced by Dan Korneff (My Chemical Romance, I Prevail, Pierce The Veil, All that Remains, Papa Roach). The first single “Nimrod” features a ghoulish voodoo-doll-themed video directed by Scott Hansen (Sevendust, Motionless In White, A Day To Remember). Andrew enthuses over the final product: “Working with Dan was a best-case scenario. He cares as much or more than any of us. He’s the “X factor” and he’s behind us 110%. His level of excitement was so inspiring. He’s so emotionally invested — everything we did, he wanted to make it more intense.

“He is all about not settling for just any sound or process that wasn’t the very best we can possibly do. Unless the performance was incredible, he was not happy. Dan creates much of his own one-of-a-kind gear, like limiters and compressors, and soldering circuit-boards, to get that sound. He’s a huge drum guy, and I think it shows — the mix was incredible.”

2019 may be the year of Nine Shrines. The pent-up ferocity exorcized on Retribution Therapy feels ready to explode: “Writing these songs have been just as much therapy as it is an outlet for the kids listening,” Chris concedes. “We approach these songs with a real sense of catharsis. This is a huge outlet for us to vent. Like onstage, something overtakes you.”

“This is the only thing I wanna do and can do,” Andrew concludes. “Our whole career, everything we’ve been doing for the last five years, has been building to this record. This is the best thing I’ve done musically in my life — literally everything has built up to this point. We wanna infect you, and we want you to celebrate the work we’ve done. I’m over the moon to get this motherfucker out.”

Tracklist:

Nimrod
Retribution Therapy
Chain Reaction
Ringworm
Happy Happy
Dead
Hymn
Conjure
Pretty Little Psycho
Ghost
Sick Like Me
Counterfeit

Nine Shrines - Retribution Therapy cover_CD_9S-RT_127mm

Ohio-based contemporary metallers NINE SHRINES – who just recently signed with Mascot Label Group – have teamed up with Metal Shock Finland to premiere, for Finnish territory, their new video “King Of Mercy”, taken from the debut EP ‘Misery’, set to be released on April 7th (digitally) and April 21st (CD), via Mascot Records! Watch the video below. Furthermore, on April 17, NINE SHRINES begin touring, with plans to travel the globe! Check out the confirmed tour dates below.

NINE SHRINES dig deep to explore the nuances of contemporary metal, navigating through metalcore, alt rock and stadium sized choruses. Formed by former ATTACK ATTACK! Drummer Andrew Wetzel and LIFE ON REPEAT guitarist Andrew Baylis early in 2014, they are a band woven into the fabric of the explosive Ohio scene.

Comments Tarja Virmakari, Metal Shock Finland‘s CEO/Founder/President:

“We’re so excited to premiere this video, it has a great amount of kick-ass attitude, delivering all the right ingredients of contemporary metal at its best! These guys know how to kill the stage. Outstanding!”

Watch “King Of Mercy” video here:

Drummer Andrew Wetzel explains the video: “It’s for people that have been walked on their whole lives. We’ve all had a time when we felt like our sole purpose was to bend over backwards so everyone around us could get what they want. This is a very personal song for us. Some people don’t deserve forgiveness and this is the anthem of our retribution.”

Misery EP Tracklist:
Bend
King Of Mercy
Parasite
Lost
Misery

Upcoming US tourdates:

Nonpoint/Nine Shrines

April 17 – CLEVELAND AGORA Cleveland, Ohio
April 18 – Mercury Ballroom Louisville, Kentucky
April 19 – The Masquerade Atlanta, Georgia

Nonpoint/Dinosaur Pile Up/Nine Shrines

April 25 – Club LA Destin, FL

Hinder/Nonpoint/Nine Shrines

April 26 – Zydeco Birmingham, AL
April 28 – The Hideaway Jackson, MS
April 29 – The Warehouse Clarksville, TN
April 30 – Southport Hall New Orleans, LA
May 2 – Scout Bar Houston, TX
May 4 – The Rock Box San Antonio, TX
May 5 – Diamond Ballroom Oklahoma City, OK
May 6 – Trees Dallas, TX
May 8 – Jake’s Backroom Lubbock, TX
May 10 – The Black Sheep Colorado Springs, CO
May 11 – The Summit Music Hall Denver, CO
May 15 – The Machine Shop Flint, MI
May 18 – Austins, Libertyville, IL
May 19 – The Forge Joliet, IL
May 23 – Mulcahy’s Long Island, NY
May 25 – House of Independents Asbury Park, NJ
May 26 – Hard Times Cafe Fredericksburg, VA

More information at:
NINE SHRINES: https://www.facebook.com/nineshrines
MASCOT LABEL: http://www.mascotlabelgroup.com

More information on NINE SHRINES and the upcoming debut EP “Misery”:

Mascot Label Group has announed the signing of Nine Shrines, alongside plans to release the EP Misery on April 21. The quintet will begin touring next month, bringing the band’s repetoire to stages across the U.S. on a tour with Hinder and Nonpoint (itinerary follows above). Founder and ex-Attack Attack! drummer Andrew Wetzel is based in Columbus, Ohio while Andrew Baylis (guitar), Devon Voisine (bass), Evan McKeever (guitar) and Chris Parketny (vocals) are based in Cleveland.

The quintet dug deep to explore the nuances of contemporary metal, navigating through metalcore, alt rock and stadium sized choruses in crafting their debut and undoubtedly personify the compelling qualities that reflect explosive Ohio scene. Their paths had crossed on a number of occasions on the road Wetzel and Baylis had never formally met. Drummer Wetzel explains, “I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in another band at first but we were talking for a couple of weeks after being put in touch by a mutual friend. He was living in Ocean City, Maryland at the time, and had sent some demos over. He was recording and said why don’t you come out here and we can start writing some music and see what happens. We had still not met, and next thing I know I put a bunch of shit in my car, clothes and laundry basket and started travelling to meet this guy.” Within weeks Devon Voisine, also ex-Life on Repeat joined on Bass, Guitarist Evan McKeever (Downplay/Before Their Eyes) had heard about the band and showed a keen interest in joining and as the trio began to find the sound they were looking for, McKeever was on board. After they auditioned for vocalists and Chris Parketny (ex-Stranger to Wolves) completed the final line up.

Between them in their previous bands they had toured the world over, had critical and commercial success (the last Attack Attack! album ‘This Means War’ went to #11 on the Billboard charts) experienced the highs that come with that but also the lows that cause bands to collapse. From out of the ashes of Attack Attack! Caleb Shomo formed Beartooth and Austin Carlile went on to form Of Mice and Men.

Talking further Wetzel adds “By the time Baylis finally reached out to me I had months to think about it and grieve I suppose and between our mutual friend prodding and that was pretty much the exact moment he text me and I thought why shouldn’t I do this. I’m not trying to convince myself I shouldn’t pursue music anymore.” It was from here that the seeds of the ‘Misery’ EP were sewn.

All of it the good the bad the ugly of their life to this point shaped the song-writing on ‘Misery’. Hitting the road as teenagers and not fully returning home for years, challenging themselves and gaining perspective through trial by fire gave lots of similar ideas and experiences of how much work it takes, how hard it is and how much perseverance is required and because of that it’s a record that drips with emotion and defiance. “When we first started writing we didn’t really have any idea what we wanted to do, we just would write anything. The first songs were all over the place searching for the sound we were looking for” he recalls.

After searching and experimenting, ‘King of Mercy’ became the sound they were looking for as Wetzel explains; “It’s for people that have been walked on their whole lives. We’ve all had a time when we felt like our sole purpose was to bend over backwards so everyone around us could get what they want. This is a very personal song for us. Some people don’t deserve forgiveness and this is the anthem of our retribution.”

The record follows this theme; ‘Parasite’ was the next song written is based on personal experiences and is an ode to those who deliberately create problems, “you’re not my saviour, you drag me down further, you take away the only thing that isn’t killing me” they sing.

“We didn’t really set out to create a theme” explains Wetzel. “Once we wrote ‘King of Mercy’ we were like ok, and as we went on we saw ‘Misery’ take shape as a whole, it became a statement, an explanation of how we got here, a curated series of things that have occurred previously for all of us that has led up to this.”

‘Bend’ is another heart on sleeve moment, about a personality we all encounter in life, someone that say one thing and do another and leaving the blame on your door – “I knew the games you played, but I still let you win” they confess. ‘Lost’ is about the struggles of pressure and self-destruction; a story of someone with a drinking problem that gets in to a car accident and someone they love – one dies. Whilst ‘Misery’ is about jealousy and how it manifests in an abusive relationship.

When it came to titling the record, ‘Misery’ fit perfectly – it summarises all the different themes that play into the struggle of putting your heart and soul into something and the world that builds around and within that. Self-produced, it’s the sound of a band refreshed, reignited and harnessing the rawness into intricate and cathartic snapshots, the album artwork ties into the heart of the album depicting someone having their soul sucked out of them. “That’s really how it feels sometimes when things start going the wrong way” adds Wetzel.

With only a handful of shows under their belt but two of those being with Halestorm and the torrential downpour flooding baptism with Volbeat they are already coming out the traps full force. Already with a collective lifetime of ammunition and experience ‘Misery’ is only the start. The complete EP tracklisting is: “Bend,” “King Of Mercy,” “Parasite,” “Lost,” “Misery.”