The road leading to post-experimental-progressive metallers East of the Wall‘s forthcoming Translation Loss full-length Ressentiment has been a long one. The band’s initial incarnation was comprised of four of the five members of The Postman Syndrome, whose debut LP Terraforming was met with critical acclaim but whose 2nd album never saw the light of day. The Postman Syndrome’s members went on to split time in various formations between Biclops and East of the Wall, but within the last couple of months it was announced that those two bands were combining not only members but songs and continuing on just as East of the Wall. Got all that?

Sweet. Because I can’t speak for past East of the Wall lineups, but the current Biclops/EotW hybrid completely knocked my socks off last Monday at NYC’s Lit Lounge. The band tore through three songs before the NYU hipster brigade rolled in at 11:30 to shake their booties to bad ’80s-imitation dance music, but those three songs (which are at least twice the length of most bands’ songs) impressed the fucking bajesus out of me! What I’ve heard of Ressentiment so far had impressed me, but having seen the band live brings my anticipation of the album to a whole new level.

Back to The Postman Syndrome. The aforementioned unreleased 2nd album will finally see the light of day as God Relieve Our Grief: A Mausoleum Of Stillborn Demos, which the band is releasing entirely themselves, smartly timed to coincide with East of the Wall’s pending album release. Since it’s a DIY operation everything is being done on the cheap, which means that they’re able to offer fans a super-awesome package for a relatively small chunk of change:

The pre-order package, available now for only $16, includes all of this stuff:

1) The album itself, of course, which will be packaged in a jewel case or digipack
2) A second bonus cd-r (this is a d.i.y. release so cut the band some slack on packaging) of outtakes and rare recordings
3) A dvd-r (again, our apologies if the bonus materials aren’t professionally packaged) of live performances and perhaps other surprises
4) An out-of-print 3 song promotional sampler from The Postman Syndrome’s previous record, Terraforming (first come first serve)
5) Your choice of any remaining t-shirt from the stock of Day Without Dawn or Biclops, two defunct bands featuring members of EotW and TPS (first come first serve)
6) Finally, if you choose to pick up your order at the record release show on May 22nd instead of having it shipped, a Biclops 18×24 tour poster designed by Eric Nyffeler of Doe Eyed Design. These are from a limited run of 100, of which we have about 60, so again it’s first come first serve. They’re printed on a thick art stock paper.

The album itself will feature ten demos recorded between 2003 and 2005 that have since been re-worked and re-mixed. The tracklist:

01. “Gut”
02. “Heads Below Or Tails”
03. “Water Signs”
04. “The Order Of Levin” (new drums, remix)
05. “Be Fruitless and Vanish” (new drums, remix)
06. “Sent” (aka untitled song #3)
07. “Pedovile” (remix)
08. “Beards Mahoney” (remix)
09. “It’s A Burden, I Know” (new drums, guitars, vocals, remix)
10. “The Consequence Of Cowardice” (new recording, new guest vocals by members of Fake Gimms)

Holy fuck… that’s an awesome package! Record labels, take note. I’ll bet fans really don’t give a shit about the fact that some of the items are burned to regular recordable media in little or no packagaing; it’s all about the music, right? To date, the pre-order page says 52 people have pre-ordered the package. Make that 53, because I’m totally on board.

-VN