Stoner Rockers Portland's BELONGING Announce The Vinyl Re-Release Of Their Debut Album HOLLOW CELLS

Following up the release of their debut LP, Portland-based post-hardcore trio from the Upper Midwest channels grunge, doom, and psychedelic rock into a haunting re-release via Dipterid Records.

What began in isolation has returned with force. Belonging, a genre-defiant trio with roots in North Dakota and Minnesota, is reissuing their debut album ‘Hollow Cells’ through Portland-based imprint Dipterid Records. Originally self-released, the album is now being offered a proper platform to a hidden gem waiting to be unearthed by a broader audience attuned to its raw emotional depth.

The band—Bryce August (guitar/vocals), Jeremy Hansen (bass), and Shane Heilman (drums)—formed out of the tight-knit DIY scenes of the Upper Midwest, later converging with the heavier and more experimental currents of the Pacific Northwest. The result is a massive, emotionally complex sound, blending the raw urgency of punk and screamo with the heavy, hypnotic energy of sludge, psych, and grunge.

“Hollow Cells was the culmination of a lot of different influences,” says guitarist and vocalist Bryce August. “We wrote and recorded a lot of these songs during the Covid quarantine — so there's a sense of alienation, isolation, creeping dread… and a desire to cut silence with noise.”

The record’s thick atmosphere of disquiet is met with a visceral, melodic pushback. Fuzzed-out guitars groan and bloom. Basslines writhe under crashing drums. Each track captures the tension of breaking free — of finding belonging in dissonance.

The band draws on the Midwest’s punk/hardcore pedigree as much as the doom-laden legacy of Pacific Northwest icons. “Initially we fused my punk and screamo roots with Jeremy's experience in Portland noise rock bands and Shane’s post-metal drumming,” Bryce continues. “As we refined the songs, we took a lot of influence from PNW bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Melvins, alongside the more psychedelic elements of bands like Lungfish and Black Angels.” That background of evolving influences carries weight, not just in tone, but in atmosphere—textured, heavy, and deeply rooted in emotional contrast. As Bryce concludes, “All of that together surfaces as the heavy, hypnotic energy of stoner/doom that flavors our particular take on post-hardcore.”

The reissue comes courtesy of Dipterid Records, a label devoted to underground sonic oddities. Founder Kevin Curty recalls: “I discovered Belonging through a mutual friend of Jeremy's. When I heard ‘Hollow Cells’ I was honestly shocked it hadn’t already been picked up. It was love at first listen.”‘Hollow Cells’ from Belonging is coming out on via Dipterid Records. 

Pre-order here.

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Lay Bare Recordings Announces This autumn we are all DOOMED by DÖ, COLTAINE & LOWEN

Get ready to be döömed by Northern dark cosmic doom this autumn! Finnish riff-praising, cosmos-worshipping DÖ are set to release their upcoming LP ’Unversum' at Lay Bare Recordings.

Helsinki’s trio channels dark astral energy into ‘döömer' - a mix of stoner, doom, sludge, psychedelia, with hints of death/black metal - and has been gaining global recognition over the past decade. Inspired by the Astral Death Cult ideology, they promise ‘Unversum’ is more seismic, versatile, and nuanced than ever before.

As Devil’s Horn Zine puts it, “The great thing about this band is they steer away from many sludge bands by mixing in fantastic layers of black metal and even classic hard rock.”

Join us in exploring cosmic riffs of ‘Unversum’ on September 18, 2024. Stay tuned for pre-orders!

OUT ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 - PRE-ORDERS OPEN!

COLTAINE - Forgotten Ways (500cps: heavyweight color in color) | transparent purple in bone)

The countdown to COLTAINE’s Lay Bare Recordings debut has begun!

COLTAINE unlocks an adventure in sound with their special ability to transport intuitive creations into unusually exciting and diverse microcosms of dark, atmospheric psychedelia, full of foggy, post-metal-tinged acid rock with somber blackgaze hues.

With a sound that defies categorisation, this German doomgaze band is set to embark on a quest through the deep, misty realms of their own musical craft with 'Forgotten Ways’. As NineHertz said, it’s an album that is “so varied, so unique... moody and gothy, but never cheesy.... savage music!”.

The aural journey through landscapes of desolation begins on September 6, 2024.

PRE-ORDER NOW

OUT ON OCTOBER 4, 2024 - PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE!

LOWEN - Do Not Go To War With the Demons of Mazandaran
(200cps: heavyweight white in transparent blue - EU LBR) | 300cps: transparent red w/ black splatter - UK Church Road)

LOWEN has dominated the live scene with appearances at Desertfest, Doomlines, Masters of the Riff and Uprising Festival.

On October 4, 2024, they are stopping by Lay Bare Recordings to release their fable-inspired and dissent-echoing ’Do Not Go To War With the Demons of Mazandaran’.

London-based, Middle East-rooted progressive doomers deliver a thought-provoking story about the folly of rulers who expand their power despite their people’s resistance. Songs like 'Corruption on Earth' and 'Waging War Against God’ clearly echo this message, addressing the death sentences imposed on women protesting against the Islamic Republic of Iran during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022. This issue is deeply personal to vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Nina Saeidi, who was born into exile from Iran in the UK.

Inspired by the fables of the Shahnameh (the Persian Book of Kings), LOWEN once again brilliantly uses the ancient world to explore the pain and longing of the diasporically dispossessed.

Let’s listen to this message together on October 4, 2024.

PRE-ORDER @ LAY BARE RECORDINGS (EU)
PRE-ORDER @ CHURCH ROAD (UK)

Thanks to Lay Bare Recordings for all of the info.