Shrinebuilder: Working In This Church, Paying Our Penance, Giving Our Blood

Last week, rumor morphed slowly into fact and, on Friday, it was revealed that Shrinebuilder--a band featuring Dale Crover of the Melvins; Wino, guitarist of Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Hidden Hand, etc.; Om/Sleep's Al Cisneros; and Neurosis frontman Scott Kelly--was in fact not just an urban legend but a real thing with a recording date and everything. This was exciting. Kelly, for his part, promised to live-blog the session, and the updates are now streaming in and totally amazing.

Not that anyone doubts this quartet's commitment to the music they've spent their lives playing. But this blog, aptly titled We Burn Through The Night, may prove to be as inspirational from a Metal Motivation 101 standpoint as whatever record Shrinebuilder eventually produce:

Al heard a room mic from the mixing booth asked me "is that Neurosis ?" I said "no man, that's your band, I sing in your band, and so does Wino" . Even hearing the words coming out of my own mouth it still doesn't really compute. We are all in a bit of shock that we have created this thing, a collaboration between guys who genuinely listen to, like , and respect each others music at the deepest level. All of us have spent years (like 80 some!) working in this church, paying our penance and giving our blood (not to mention saying our prayers and taking our vitamins). Somehow here we are now.

Experience is like a constantly moving and expanding train that keeps picking up more and more passengers as it cuts through the mountains and the plains. The Shrinebuilder experience train is fuckin' long, long, long and it's rolling strong. The shear weight of it all pushed this thing into another realm the moment the decision was made to do this. The fifth member of Shrinebuilder is the godhead. This record honors the traditions set forth by all those that walked through these endless halls before us.

Radical adults lick...