Band: Lord Wrought
From: Vancouver, British Columbia
Their formation story:
(Devi, bass/vocals): "Sky and I met over Instagram in late 2020 during lockdown when he reached out after seeing a mutual favorite guitarist repost a video of me covering one of his band’s songs. We didn’t figure out that we both lived in Vancouver until a couple weeks into exchanging demos and shooting the shit, so once things started opening up in 2021 we started jamming and we’d been trying to form a band together since then, but nothing ever stuck.
"Our previous drummer, Jono, was the one that really got the ball rolling. He brought Sky into the fold on guitar and Chris (veteran of the hardcore punk scene) in on vocals. Sky then invited me to join on bass and, being a big fan of Jono’s previous band, Stuttr, I jumped at the chance! Chris left after a couple jam sessions, so I took over vocals and we operated as a three piece until very recently."
Their sound in their own words:
"Sky, Jono and, I all come from slightly different worlds in terms of influences, but we all align on bands like The Secret, Cursed, Nails, The Banner, Racetraitor, Black Breath, early Harm’s Way, Weekend Nachos, and Converge; bands that meld hardcore and extreme metal, but are too finicky to comfortably sit in one camp or the other.
"Not a lot of bands are doing that blackened hardcore sound locally, so we wanted to fill that void and update the sound a bit. Basically, it's spooky shit you can spin kick to."
Latest release info:
"We started working on the tracks for Mortis in late 2023 with the intention of moving in a more power violence direction (which didn’t really hold true save for “Scaleless”). Sky actually came up with the project’s title before we had a single song written and it gave us an aesthetic direction. We wanted to do gothic, caustic hardcore without veering too far into fishnet and eyeliner territory.
"As we started progressing and introducing new ideas I showed Jono and Sky a couple songs I had written around highschool that could fit the mold (namely 'The Gnashing of Teeth' and parts of 'Drop the Curtain,' and 'Juniper'). They were down to rework the tracks together and I was absolutely floored to give those songs a home! Sky wrote the interlude separately and that was the cherry on top of the whole project for me.
"We spent a few months rehearsing the tracks and once we felt solid about how everything was sounding we reached out to Jesse Gander at Rain City Recorders to engineer the sessions. We’re all huge fans of his work with bands like Blue Monday, Brutus, Comeback Kid, Baptists, Ceremonial Bloodbath, d.b.s., Red Light Sting, Erosion and a ton more, so it was a really exciting opportunity!
"We wanted a raw sorta live off the floor sound and he’s an absolute wizard, so the process of working with him was damn-near effortless. We ended up tracking the whole EP (minus guitar overdubs) in a day thanks in no small part to Jesse’s ingenuity. Stu Mckillop also killed it with the masters and Art captured the vibe of the EP beautifully with the Xerox-inspired mixed media artwork."
Future plans:
"We parted ways with Jono after our last show and we’re gonna miss him a ton! He’s an incredible friend and he put a lot into these songs. We recently added Israel (drums) and Aijaz (bass) of Filigree Silver God to the lineup to play these tracks live and we couldn’t be more excited about Lord Wrought’s future!
"Sky and I caught FSG’s set just before our last show and they’re incredible! Definitely a unique Vancouver band to keep an eye on right now. They’re cooking up some heat and I’m hyped to hear what they do! We’re currently working on getting some gigs together for the near future and my aching back and I are excited to be freed of bass duties."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"Definitely check out The July Effect, Reckonize, Place of Refuge, Smuther, Dulzura, Luella, Noose Sweat, Jisei and Treachery. All our incredible labelmates on YHR are on point as well; we’re hella fortunate to be in such good company.
"Outside of straight-up hardcore and metalcore, check out Norillag, Coup D’etat, You Must Believe in Spring, Emma Goldman and Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead. The Northwest has a lot to offer in terms of hardcore and adjacent styles right now. It’s a really sick moment happening and we’re fortunate to get to contribute!"
Mortis is available on cassette via Yetzer Hara Records.
Lord Wrought on social media: Twitter | Instagram
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