Elder Devil from Fresno, CA
Hurtling out of California's Central Valley with arms swinging and teeth bared, ELDER DEVIL will be releasing their upcoming sophomore album, Everything Worth Loving, on June 16 via Los Angeles heavy metal label Prosthetic Records.
Founded in 2016 by primary songwriter Jacob Lee (Hellish Form, Keeper, PlasticBag FaceMask) and vocalist Stephen Muir, the Fresno, CA band’s mission statement of crafting corruscating grindcore and apoplectic sludge for the love of extreme music, and the scene they were birthed from, has remained unwavering in its execution. With a handful of EPs and 2019 full-length The Light Dimmed Eternal, ELDER DEVIL’s latest chapter is an uneasy rumination on grief.
Upon completing writing for the musical components of Everything Worth Loving in January 2021, Muir took meticulous care in penning the lyrics to their sophomore’s 13 tracks. With the passing of his mother at the forefront of his mind, Everything Worth Loving is tinged with personal loss and a sense of displacement. Melding the insular and universal aspects of such grief is exemplified on the title track’s ponderance of love itself, as Muir questions, “Why do we love and why does that love leave?”. ELDER DEVIL’s answers for such questions are not easily stomached, but beneath the surface of their harsh noise lies a comfort within the cacophony.
With Lee once again taking on production duties, ELDER DEVIL commenced recording and mixing sessions between April and May of 2022 before handing over mastering duties to Jacob Plotkin (Cave In, Old Man Gloom, Street Sects and many more). The resulting 13 tracks possess a fervently raw side to the band, capturing ELDER DEVIL’s live explosiveness and grit in equal measure.
The striking black and white cover art for Everything Worth Loving was commissioned from Richmond, VA artist Derek R. Setzer, embodying the restless disquiet of ELDER DEVIL’s latest work. For all of the harsh truths and loss that permeates Everything Worth Loving, ELDER DEVIL’s second long player sees the quartet stand tall on, and come into their own in uncompromisingly dark fashion. - Prosthetic Records