Every so often a Profile rolls through for a release that I just cannot stop listening to. Such is the case with Chicago’s Shrineburner. The sludgey doom outfit just released Hymns of Despair, their debut full-length, last week and it has been on repeat basically ever since. Simply put, this thing is immense. Crushingly massive. That’s where it all starts. But what has captivated me so much these recent days are the melancholic, almost cosmic undertones within it all. It’s a fantastic complement of sounds. This is one I could actually gush about for some time, but for your sake I won’t. Instead, I’ll turn it over to Peter Norman’s (guitars/vocals) responses to help you familiarize more. Definitely don’t skip the Bandcamp embed on this one.

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How and when did you first get into playing music, or metal more specifically, and how did your band get its start? Any pushback from family/those close to you?

I started playing music in grade school after all but begging my parents for a guitar. Got a Squier, and it was game over. Pretty classic. Shrineburner was started out of a lifelong obsession with heavy riffs and powerful music that transcends the boundaries of just being straightforward metal. I think about the most “pushback” I’ve ever gotten is people just being surprised to learn that I sing the way I do, being a pretty laidback person.

How would you describe your band and what you play to someone who is completely in the dark? / Is there anything about your latest album or about your band that no one will find in any interview or review that you care to divulge? / Any funny stories from playing shows / tours / festivals, etc?

I think of our band as almost transcendental at times. Some of our stuff is fairly straightforward doom metal, which is how I think a lot of people have described us. As we’ve progressed with songwriting, especially apparent on some tracks on this new album, our sound has definitely progressed too. We’ve explored more influences and the result is something we feel is pretty unique and doesn’t really stick completely within the confines of what the average listener would call doom metal — though we certainly have no problem with the label.

Something you won’t find in any current interviews — the track “An Ocean of Broken Hope” off of our new album, which I feel is the deepest look into the “transcendental” elements of songwriting as far as our band goes, was recorded first take without a click track. Obviously there were dubs for the lead section and vocals, but we feel the live one-shot recording element being brought into the studio really added to the power and raw emotion of that track.

I’m not sure we’ve had very many noteworthy tour encounters so far, let’s just say that our bass player CJ had quite the time in Memphis around our appearance at Memphist Fest last year.

What do you see as some of the great things happening in and around the metal scene (yours or just in general) and what are some of the worst things happening right now? / Most folks have passions for a cause or causes that are close to them. What, if any, are some of the most important issues (social/political/humorous/etc.) for you / your band and how do you insert those issues into your music?

I’ll stick to the positives in the scene here — I don’t see any need to harp on anything else. Speaking locally on the Chicago scene, I love how many mixed bills are happening these days. I think it makes local bills so much more interesting when not every band is exactly the same genre. We’ve been able to make some really cool friends — bands, engineers, promoters — in our short time as a band and it’s just been great to watch the scene progress and be apart of it. I can say with complete certainty that some of our favorite shows were bills that you might not necessarily have expected us to fit on, and some of my favorite people in the scene play in completely different genres than us.

Our band has always been fairly politically outspoken. A lot of my lyrics are blatantly anti-organized religion, while other lyrics on the new record explore topics of disdain for what politicians have done to us and forced us to accept. I will speak for myself here — I think you have to be an absolute psychopath to want to be involved in politics, become a cop, etc. If you are actively upholding systems of oppression you are the problem no matter what your intentions or political alignments are. We have released several t-shirts expressing our disdain for current world affairs, not limited to one of Trump ripping his own face in half. I think it’s important that artists everywhere speak up. Abolish ICE, free Palestine, no mercy for fascist pigs.

Do you have day jobs or hobbies you want to share?

We all have day jobs — CJ and I are bartenders and Eddy works at a local college and has his own mastering company (Identity Mastering, he is beyond talented.) CJ is incredibly talented in the film world, and I do a lot of freelance design & painting.

What advice do you have for music critics and outlets out there? How can we all better serve the genre in the eyes of a hard-working musician?

Not being a music critic I’m not sure I have much to say here — I’ll leave it at just saying open-mindedness to the unknown is crucial and there are an unfathomable amount of hardworking, amazing bands out there that deserve a chance at write ups and attention regardless of how well known they are.

Any specific long term goal(s) in mind?

Our current goal is just to get through the process of initially self-releasing this album. We have vinyl ambitions not so far down the road, as well as a big want to start hitting the road touring much more than we currently are. As this band has grown, I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we’ve had a blast playing many different cities and as luck would have it — we all get along in the van.

When you’re not obsessing over your own material, what are some of your favorite albums to listen to currently?

This is going to be boring or awesome depending on who you are. I listen to a ridiculous amount of Black Sabbath. Like, a concerning amount of Black Sabbath. I have a “Vol. 4” CD in my car and I listen to it every day. I never get sick of it. Every time the first note of “Snowblind” plays it’s like I’m hearing it for the first time again. “Sabotage”? Perfect record. If it’s Ozzy-era Sabbath, I’ll listen any time, any day. I literally can’t get enough of it and it will never get old to me. Beyond that, I’m currently really enjoying Generation of Vipers – “Guilt Shrine,” Yautja – “Songs of Descent,” Minsk – “The Crash and The Draw,” Oozing Wound – “Earth Suck.,” Blunt – “Closure.” There are way too many awesome bands to name and unfortunately I’ll always be forgetting someone so I’ll just leave those as a summary.

What is the near future outlook for you or your band? Any specific events on the horizon that the masses should be aware of? 

We have a record release show coming up with our friends in Aseethe and we will also be appearing at Memphist Fest in Memphis, TN for the second time. Beyond that I can’t discuss much currently.

Summarize your band in one word.

Visceral. 

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Many thanks to Peter and Shrineburner for the time!

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Hymns of Despair is out now. For more information and to follow along with Shrineburner, head over to Instagram or Facebook.