Lord Dying

Lord Dying are a metal quartet from Portland, Oregon, who play a signature brand of sludge and doom that has been expanded upon with elements of prog metal and neo-psychedelia. The recordings, from their celebrated 2011 self-titled demo to 2019's Mysterium Tremendum, reveal an unwillingness to compromise and an abiding focus on sonic and musical evolution. Lord Dying's sound, live and in studio, has continually pushed the limits of what its members can actually play, and have therefore molded them into one of the more adventurous extreme music outfits. Years-long tours have transformed the group -- who once engaged in by-the-numbers re-creations of previously recorded works and covers -- into an outfit that walked the twin high wires of the instinctual and unexpected, offering changes in direction, dynamic, and texture with startling regularity. Clandestine Transcendence appeared five years in February 2024. Founded in 2010 amid a fertile underground scene, original members included guitarist/vocalist Erik Olson, guitarist Chris Evans, bassist Don Capuano, and drummer/vocalist Jon Reid. The band released a self-titled demo EP that quickly sold out when they began sharing local stages with Unsane, Red Fang, Yob, and Valient Thorr. The culmination of this initial stage experience netted a live EP simply entitled Fall Tour in 2012. Moving outside of their comfort zone of the American Northwest, Lord Dying began playing national stages with Danava, Lecherous Gaze, Black Cobra, Gaza, Witch Mountain, Black Tusk, Down, and Ghost. Their live presence attracted the attention of Relapse Records, and the band signed a multi-album deal with the label. Their debut, Summon the Faithless, was recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker and released in July of 2013. The band undertook national tours first with Howl, then Ramming Speed and Valient Thorr. Their first headlining tour got them a spot at Phil Anselmo's Housecore Horror Film Festival in Austin, Texas. After taking time off to write, they made their initial trip to Europe touring with Red Fang and the Shrine; they even netted an appearance at New Zealand's storied Roadburn Festival. Reid left Lord Dying shortly before recording sessions for their sophomore Relapse album. He was replaced in the studio by veteran Rob Shaffer (Dark Castle, Monarch, Yob). Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust helmed the sessions that resulted in Poisoned Altars, which was issued in January of 2015. Subsequently, drummer Nickolis Parks joined Lord Dying full-time. After touring for a solid year-and-a-half behind the album, the band took a short break then spent a year writing with no distractions. They subsequently signed to eOne and began recording in August of 2018. Their music shifted during the course of touring and the subsequent writing session; they embraced classic prog and post-psychedelia and though they initially began composing an album about life, they instead delivered a conceptual one that reflected on death and the afterlife. Mysterium Tremendum was released in April of 2019 to ecstatic reviews for its refreshing change in direction. Following the single release of album track "Freed from the Pressures of Time," the band toured until the pandemic shut down the globe in 2020. They resumed playing live in early 2022. In 2023, they entered the studio with producer/recording engineer Kurt Ballou. In September they released, single "I Am Nothing, I Am Everything," followed by "The Endless Road Home" in November, and "The Universe Is Weeping" in January 2024. All three tracks appeared on February's 12-track Clandestine Transcendence.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo