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This Shameful Burden

by Altars of Grief

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little-matt
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little-matt Very, very cool 😎.
Lawrence Hollman
Lawrence Hollman thumbnail
Lawrence Hollman this is a great one of this genre and metal in general.
spawnofchaos
spawnofchaos thumbnail
spawnofchaos A solid death/doom offering. Enjoyable to listen to but didn't find too many tracks to be particularly memorable Favorite track: Only Our Scars.
baudelagon
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baudelagon C'est devenu un de mes albums préférés. Après une bonne semaine d'écoute, j'étais encore plongé dans leur univers sombre et torturé... 5/5 Favorite track: This Shameful Burden.
mtg13
mtg13 thumbnail
mtg13 Although not quite as good as the follow up Iris, this is still a masterpiece in melodic doom.

13/10 Favorite track: The Plague that Haunts the Darkness.
Metallurgical Fire
Metallurgical Fire thumbnail
Metallurgical Fire I’m glad this was rereleased. More of a death-doom than blackened doom album to my ears, but we see here the potential that was fully realized on Iris. There is a great deal of progression from this album to Iris, but this is a solid debut. Update: I’m a liar. It’s a pretty damn fantastic debut. Favorite track: In Your Arms, In Ruin.
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  • "This Shameful Burden" [Deluxe Edition 6 Panel Digipack]
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Altars of Grief's debut album "This Shameful Burden" 2018 re-release edition in a 6 panel digipack with updated artwork and two bonus tracks! Comes with an Altars of Grief sticker.

    Includes unlimited streaming of This Shameful Burden via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
A dim light peers in Illuminating The bruises that you hide I've chosen not to see You crawl to me Eyes bearing distant fire I feel my world collapse with every exhale Your skin is cold Scarred, but perfect This shameful burden Is mine alone Your stare burns right through me Revealing every lie Your fragile beauty hides such a callous smile What have I become? Entombed within myself The wreckage of our hearts Is tearing me down As you stand before me I see what we've become The wreckage of our hearts And all the lies undone A dim light peers in Illuminating My hands around your throat This burden is mine alone What have I become? Entombed within myself The wreckage of our hearts Is forcing me... The light is fading The walls are closing in This burden is mine alone Your stare burns right through me Until your dying breath This shameful burden is mine alone
2.
Far... Far from here is all you said There is nothing left inside Nothing left alive There is no fucking hope I sit and stare As these grey walls close in Endlessly suffer To merely exist There is nothing else here But, lost words left to decay As another grain falls We latch on desperately All of our dreams, all we hold dear It all goes away We carry only our scars Alone, to our graves In our most broken days Will we find the strength to stand? Or take the path of finality To lay beneath the altars of our grief I sit and stare As these grey walls close in Endlessly suffer To merely exist
3.
You arrive with grace To quell the distance Pull me into your ethereal skin In your arms the world will fall away As if I alone could carry this weight In your eyes I burn in my reflection You move through my veins And light the cold, endless night Sightless, I cry out for you to carry me back In your eyes I burn in my reflection In your arms I stand alone in ruin Amidst the ashes of my thoughts And the silence of my decay I alone cannot bear the weight of my own imminent collapse I alone cannot bear the weight of my own failure
4.
I hide my body away from the day Flesh and bone scattered on the frozen wind Desperate to hold every piece in place As the sunlight consumes me Awoken by a voice Scraping at my skin A storm of hunger and ecstasy Awaiting the nights cold embrace The moon hangs silent, shrouded in mist Carrier of pestilence, harbinger of dread I arrive in a haze of bloody delirium I am the plague that haunts the darkness Into the vastness of the abyss Free from the weight of your suffering Swallowed up by my hatred and the blood-stained earth The silence is broken Crawl out from the void That has stripped you of your faith Your god has abandoned you, my child In blackness, forever Never again! Never again to feel the sun Cursed to exist in isolation A deathless disgrace Within your loathsome tomb In the throes of solitude Withered from famine This night, gods children will suffer She lay still Naked in death, for all to behold When all hope disappears The light won't find her here Awoken by a voice Scraping at my skin A storm of hunger and ecstasy Awaiting the nights cold embrace The moon hangs silent, Shrouded in mist Carrier of pestilence, harbinger of dread I arrive in a haze of bloody delirium I am the plague that haunts the darkness
5.
Your death-white face haunts me still In these endless nights where no dreams dwell Held down beneath the surface, I watched the light leave your eyes Fading, further down, into the gloom I will drown in my grief, as you did In these deathless nights my torment brings I have lost my faith in these cold skies above What god could ever forgive what I've done to you? I am disgraced Broken and wretched Unable to face What I have become Hours in silence Pry open old wounds Her breathless body Pale flesh In the depths of a memory Where she met with death Please help me, oh lord Help me carry this weight I see her face when I close my eyes Her shadow is the night Please god, don't leave me Don't leave me alone Cold, dead hands Pry open old wounds The blackness buries me As time depletes Oh god, what have I done? What have I done?
6.
Grey Skies 02:04
7.
Open yourself to me Consumed by my misery Your blackened wings unfurled And the ashes fell like snow The ghosts that reside in this place A reminder of the life that we shared In you, I saw reflections of a cold, winter day Where the sun refused to shine These years have stolen everything from me But, time can not claim your memory Time can't take your memory from me In dying light I'll carry this weight In dying light I'll see your ghost again The future holds nothing for me Trapped in the darkness, alone Tired eyes, cursed to wake to another day Slipping further down into despair
8.
Without your voice I am sightless and alone Haunted by the memories of a place I once called home Shadows force their way inside and paint depictions of my grief I lament for providence but my faith abandons me Growing cold with every hour of this endless night The broken wings that expand behind me are incapable of flight Mired deep within my sullen ruin Amidst the dust and bereft of your light Divine hands that crafted your wings Bind me, hopeless, to my despair The sands of time, for me, shall fall no longer This growing darkness I can not escape Desperate prayers have gone unanswered I know your Heaven was never in reach At last, the rain did cease And a thunderous silence beset me Grey skies give way To an aching clarity You're no longer here But, I can't forget your face I need to feel something real The caress of cold steel Metallic taste on my tongue My hands are shaking But, my senses are numb I need to feel your pain I need to know your Heaven is real Beneath my own heartbeat And heavy breath There is no sound But, that of time fading away In these final moments We are truly alone Until the silence takes us away Away from this life Away from this life

about

Prior to the release of “Iris”, prairie doom metal band Altars of Grief had already emerged on the Western Canadian doom metal scene with the release of their debut album “This Shameful Burden” in the summer of 2014, followed by a 10” vinyl split album “Of Ash and Dying Light” in the summer of 2015.

Originally self-released by the band, “This Shameful Burden” has been out of print for years, and alas it is finally time for this piece of Altars of Grief’s history to be made available once again. The 2018 edition of “This Shameful Burden” has been updated for a 6 panel digipack with an entirely different layout and design featuring artwork and photography from Necrographix, Wa’guna Wirya’wan, and Josh Langham to go alongside Sam Nelson’s original cover art. Bonus tracks from the “Of Ash and Dying Light” split, previously only available on vinyl, is also included on this release. Recorded by Justin Bender at Blue Door Recording in Regina, SK in April and November 2014.

Limited to 300 copies.
Available June 16, 2018
Taking pre-orders now.

credits

released June 14, 2018

This Shameful Burden was recorded by Justin Bender at Blue Door Recording in Regina, SK in April 2014 and was originally released on August 6th, 2014.

Damian Smith - Vocals, Piano (on track 6)
Evan Paulson - Guitar, Programming
Donny Pinay - Bass
Zack Bellina - Drums

Lyrics by Damian Smith

Music by Evan Paulson & Altars of Grief (except for track 6, written by Damian Smith)

Guest vocals on “In Your Arms, In Ruin” and “The Plague That Haunts The Darkness” by Erik Labossiere

Cover art by Sam Nelson
CD Image art by Necrographix

“In Dying Light” and “Your Heaven” originally appeared on Of Ash And Dying Light, a split release with Nachtterror. Of Ash And Dying Light was recorded by Justin Bender at Blue Door Recording in Regina, SK in November 2014 and was released on July 10, 2015.

Damian Smith - Vocals
Evan Paulson - Guitar, Programming, Backing Vocals
Erik Labossiere - Guitar, Vocals
Donny Pinay - Bass, Backing Vocals
Zack Bellina - Drums

Lyrics by Damian Smith
Music by Evan Paulson & Altars of Grief

Original cover art by Sam Nelson


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Hypnotic Dirge Records is an independent record label and webshop based in Saskatchewan, Canada and Lisbon, Portugal active since 2008. Our intention and raison d'être is to release quality expressive and eclectic art through aural manifestations.

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