    
Good Evening ladies and gentz!
For 'tis a fine evening indeed!... a fine evening for letting email list subscribers get first dibs at pre-ordering the new, monolithic album Becoming by Mustard Gas & Roses (MGR) before announcing it publicly tomorrow! MGR features members from Isis (DUH. The band that sculpted the tone that possibly fathered much of our past & present roster and eventually, our means of 'becoming' a record label), as well as members from such renowned bands as Ides of Gemini, Chelsea, Wolfe, and more. This album holds itself to being mainly instrumental with the only vocals taking place on the mesmerizing, massive title track Becoming. The A-team over at Noisey premiered that track a couple weeks ago - you can check that out RIGHT HERE!
With Becoming throned in the center of the albums 8 tracks, it represents a secure pillar to the enormous structure of the tracks before and after. You'll get a chance to hear the commanding second single off the album, Let It Roll, which premiers Monday 9/12 via the heavy hitters over Metal Sucks. As soon as it's live we'll alert everyone via social media, because the track is a straight up ripper through and through!
So lets dish on the LP packaging; we've got high gloss gatefold jackets with three different colors of vinyl. Beyond that, we also had 25 test presses pressed for this one, and we handmade special limited edition jackets to house them! Not only that, but this time around we handmade 25 special CD jackets for some limited edition CDs! So there's some fun stuff to check out here :)
Now it's time to get all biographical! (this BIO brought to you once again courtesy the inimitable bass guitar genius mastermind Brian Cook of Russian Circles, Sumac, These Arms Are Snakes, Botch fame. He's also a freakin' awesome writer... of course):
""So it goes" is the primary recurring refrain in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. It's a nihilistic phrase-a resigned response to death and tragedy. Its repetition throughout the book is a kind of attrition, with the despair and inhumanity of war being reiterated until it borders on absurdity. Other refrains make multiple appearances in the book. The narrator describes his drunken breath as "mustard gas and roses." Later, that same phrase is used to describe the smell of corpses after the bombing of Dresden. "Mustard gas and roses" becomes its own type of attrition, a repeated bombardment and reminder of our crimes, from petty inebriations to horrific massacres.
Guitarist Mike Gallagher understands how repetition can serve as an attack strategy. Over the course of five albums, Gallagher's old band Isis demonstrated how simple recurring motifs could build into earthquaking climaxes. And in his spare time, he constructed paired down models of this principle under his solo moniker MGR (Mustard Gas & Roses). Armed with little more than a guitar, some effects, and the occasional auxiliary instruments, Gallagher composed instrumental pieces that fluctuated between whispers and cataclysms. It was a strategy on par with his namesake's creator: rather than bludgeoning the audience with horror, minor dramas were threaded together into blanketing tapestries of tragedy. The first three MGR albums, Nova Lux, Wavering on the Cresting Heft, and 22nd of May were as intimate as a narrator's breath and as harrowing as sifting through the wreckage of battle. But then Gallagher took a moment away from music. "After Isis disbanded in 2010, I wasn't too busy with music and I thought I might be done playing in bands," he says of his hiatus. It was only when an invitation came to open a European tour for A Storm Of Light that MGR was resurrected. Gallagher recruited some of his tourmates to play with him, creating a full-band version of MGR. Shortly after, Boris and Pelican offered MGR some California dates, and Gallagher enlisted Jay Bennett (Ides of Gemini, Black Mare), Bryan Tulao (Chelsea Wolfe, Black Math Horseman, Mother Tongue), and Sash Popovic (Black Math Horseman, Mother Tongue) to round out MGR into a proper band. With this full-band line-up, MGR recorded its third album, Becoming. It's an appropriate title for an album that feels like a transition into a new phase of MGR. While the eight songs on Becoming adhere to the pensive gloom of Gallagher's past work, the full band arrangements allow the compositions to build into even more grandiose apexes. From the rolling boil of the opener "Closer" to crushing chords of album finale "Rise", MGR explores their newfound boundaries of volume and dynamics afforded by the addition of dueling guitars, drums, and bass. Even besides the added heft from the rhythm section and second guitarist, there are new sonic forays for MGR on their latest album. Title track "Becoming" is a shining example of an expanded palette, with acoustic guitars and chanted vocals summoning the kind of dark folk music championed by Michael Gira and David Eugene Edwards. These more nuanced moments are offset by the minimalist bludgeoning of tracks like "As One", which conjures the brute instrumentals of Dutch post-metal pioneers Gore. Becoming is the rebirth of MGR. And while vestiges of Gallagher's brooding isolated ballads can still be heard in the orchestrated roar of his revamped project, it feels very much like a resurrection, a second life. So it goes." - Brian Cook
2. Threshold
3. Let It Roll (Stream @ Metal Sucks Monday 9/12!)
5. The Flood
6. End Of The Line
8. Rise
Produced by MGR
Recorded and Mixed by Manny Nieto @ Manny's Estudio in LA, CA
Mastered by James Plotkin @ Plotkinworks
Artwork & Design by Nicole Momaney
Photography by Mike Gallagher
Alright y'all, go get at 'em...
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming
Ultimate Preorder Package Deal
Here it is, the holy grail package deal of MGR's physical manifestation of their new album Becoming. All three colors of vinyl, along with the CD - for this is, my friends, ULTIMATE.  - Mustard Yellow w/Rose Red Splatter /110
- Translucent Orange / Translucent Pilsner Swirl /110
- Half Black / Half Clear w/Grey Splatter /329
- CD /1000
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming LP
Vinyl Package Deal
So you love vinyl, but hate those pesky little plastic discs? Please take a word of advice, buy the CD anyway - because CDs are the new vinyl and the comeback is imminent! However, if you really just do NOT care about CDs, then we also have a nifty 'lil package deal where you snag all three vinyl colors at a very enticing discount :)
- Mustard Yellow w/Rose Red Splatter /110
- Translucent Orange / Translucent Pilsner Swirl /110
- Half Black / Half Clear w/Grey Splatter /329
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming LP + CD
Special Edition Package Deal
Here's a package deal where you can grab the test press edition of the LP and the special sleeve edition of the CD at once - hot mamma! Full descriptions of each of these items can be seen just below this package deal :)
- Test Press, hand-numbered out of 25 copies w/special hand-made covers.
- Hand-numbered out of 25 copies w/special hand-made sleeves.
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming LP
Special Cover Test Press Edition
Here we have the coveted test press edition of this one ;) Special, handmade covers featuring a high gloss mounted buck decal held to a high quality 5mm polybag. Inside the polybag is a stable 12x16 foam sheet with a metallic copper foiled leaf adhered atop and then folded over to nest one of the albums hand-numbered test presses.
- Test Press, hand-numbered out of 25 copies w/special hand-made covers.
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming CD
Special Sleeve Edition
We wanted to do something cool for all of our CD customers who always seem to be getting the shaft when it comes to neat, limited edition versions of our releases. So we handmade some specials CD sleeves for a limited version of the CD release! These come housed in a 5"x5" recycled cardboard sleeve with a 4"x4" wood laminate tile adhered to it and a 2"x2" excerpt of the stunning album artwork adhered to that. So, pretty sexy :) Insert includes album credits as well.
- Hand-numbered out of 25 copies w/special hand-made sleeves.
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming LP + CD
Package Deal
Here's a package deal for everyone who wants to get their hands on both of the available physical formats! LP? Check. CD? Check. Together in one package deal? You know it! AND... at a discount of course :) This package will include the most limited version of the LP available at the time of ordering. Or if you prefer a different color just let us know :)
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming LP
Mustard Yellow w/Rose Red Splatter
Limited to 110 copies
Translucent Pilsner / Translucent Orange Swirl
Limited to 110 copies
Half Black / Half Clear w/Grey Splatter
Limited to 329 copies
Mustard Gase & Roses Becoming
+ Dust Moth Scale
+ Heiress Made Wrong
LP Package Deal
Here we have a package deal for the new MGR LP, as well as the newest bangers from Dust Moth & Heiress! Snag 'em up and get doooooown!! This package will include the most limited version of the LP available at the time of ordering. Or if you prefer a different color just let us know :)
- Mustard Gas & Roses "Becoming" LP Mustard Yellow w/Rose Red Splatter /110
- Dust Moth "Scale" LP Black Vinyl /250 (2nd Pressing)
- Heiress "Made Wrong" LP Grey/Black Swirl /320 (Nearly Sold Out!)
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming CD
What? You don't buy vinyl? Well, that's really weird, but don't worry - we got you covered, too! Because we also did awesome CDs with gatefold wallets :) Check 'em and inspect 'em!
Mustard Gas & Roses
Becoming
Digital Download
And last, but certainly not least, you can pre-order the digital version via Bandcamp RIGHT HERE. You can download it in MP3, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis formats. Ogg Vorbis? Isn't that an ancient Sumerian god?
If you're not a loyal Ogg Vorbis follower, then you can also pre-order it on iTunes RIGHT HERE :) All digital pre-orders through Bandcamp & iTunes will receive an immediate download of the track Lift.
And all of you folks out there that spend your days exclusively streaming music, you can find the band on Spotify RIGHT HERE.
So there you have it folks! Get in touch with any questions and please spread the word to all you think might be interested. Thanks so much, as always, and many, many loves at you <3
xoxo, Lindsay & Joel |
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