Strangely enough I had literally ripped my copy of this 7" to write about on the site a mere week before a copy of the limited edition repress showed up in the mail!? I had absolutely no idea that upstate NY's Drowning Room had done a (Final?) reunion show at the start of 2009, but apparently they did, and as a result the always awesome Trip Machine Laboratories did a small repress of this absolutely outstanding EP, "The Divinity Syndrome", which they originally released in 1996. To my dismay, I never really had any Drowning Room material back in the day aside from a compilation appearance or two (coincidentally I had only recently come across the original pressing of this 7", which I bought for a couple bucks), which clearly didn't do the band justice. The four tracks herein have a serious Bloodlet meets Starkweather thing goin' on (again, strangely enough, the label says the exact same thing in their webstore), with a mix of strained sneers and tactfully peculiar singing over all sorts of riffs and tempos, from the occasional burst of straightforward metallic hardcore power chords to a dominant force of darker and more melodic metal-based influences—intermittently accented by grungy or mildly rock-influenced flourishes. But let's face it, any band that can be compared to Bloodlet and Starkweather is well worth checking the fuck out, so... I'm not even gonna say anything else. Listen for yourselves:
Drowning Room "The Divinity Syndrome"
The repress contains modified cover art alongside the same lyric insert as the original, and the records themselves are hand-numbered out of just 103 copies, so... act fast!
Get It
Trip Machine Laboratories
Interpunk
Very Distribution
For awhile there it was rumored that Trip Machine was thinking of doing a Drowning Room discography CD, and holy shit would I flip out over that! I've had a hell of a hard time tracking down any of the band's other material, so if anyone out there can provide me some information on their complete discography, or hook me up with mp3's of some of their other work, I'd hugely appreciate it. This 7" is completely awesome in every way, so I'm really bummed that I never truly looked into these guys back when they were fully functional...
Comments
starkweather and bloodlet, giger cover art. im buyin this pronto.
2.16.2009 | By Marcus Garvey
Andrew
I emailed you about it, but here is the basic run down of DROWNING ROOM releases:
- demo/rehearsal tape
- when nothoing remains demo
- the divinity syndrome 7” (trip machine)
- split 7” w/ Veil (moo coow)
- true.love.always CD (rhythm den)
- a call for unity part 2 CD comp (back ta basics)
- strength through diversity CD comp (up front)
- orange county, ny hardcore/punk CD comp (don’t think there was a label name, they did a Judge cover)
- bishop takes pawn 2 song demo (final recordings)
- WNYU session
maybe when I hit the Lotto I’ll still do the CD discography
2.16.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
We also did the Harder they Come comp and we had a 3rd song for that Bishop Takes Pawn release called Most Dangerous Game which was originally going to be a 3 song 7” called “kill them in the classic style” which I blatantly ripped off from Billy Joel. Personally I think those 3 songs are up there with the best stuff we ever did.
2.16.2009 | By Sean
Forgot about the Harder They Come comp…and MDG was on the Call For Unity comp, hence why I didn;t mention it w/ the 2 song demo cuz well my tape was 2 songs…
2.16.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
fucking cool. So my plans of not buying anything regarding the music went to hell thanks to you Andrew…
but when I saw Starkweather mentioned I knew I would buy this…
2.16.2009 | By Carlos
Ah gotcha…The song on the Harder They Come Comp was Pretty Killer in case anyone wanted to know. I was just giving the skinny on the intentions of each recording…We also re-recorded Pipes but never used it for anything.
2.16.2009 | By Sean
Cool got a few orders for this today, coupled with other stuff from the store.
Carlos, if you do plan on ordering from me…that’d be great. I usually ship next day.
Sean you re-recorded “Pipes” during what session? The last one with Anthony?
2.16.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
No we did it when we recorded Pretty Killer…We were going to put 2 songs on the Harder comp but Dave opted for 1 because Pretty Killer is a longer song….
2.16.2009 | By Sean
Oh that’s cool…well when I hit the lotto…its on the discographt. hahahaha.
2.17.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
Saw Drowning Room in DC to a sparse crowd and was seriously impressed. I have the original of this 7”. I recall it going on a ton of mix tapes at the time. It’s been a while so I am definitely popping this on when I get home. Thanks for bringing it back to my mind.
2.17.2009 | By Terence
@Chris Trip Machine:
I actually already ordered this 7”. thanks dude.
2.17.2009 | By Carlos
Ah you in the dude who ordered from INTERPUNK huh?
2.17.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
?????
nooooo :)
I ordered directly from you. I had never in my life ordered from Interpunk. Not that I have anything against them but…
2.18.2009 | By Carlos
Ok, I didn’t get an order from a Carlos that’s why I said that
2.18.2009 | By CHRIS TRIP MACHINE
because that is my internet-nickname ;)
2.19.2009 | By Carlos
Got mine today. Damn nice 7”. Well worth the measly 4 bucks.
2.20.2009 | By Marcus Garvey
I’m glad you like it…It feels great knowing that people are still digging something we did 13 years ago. Chris had faith in us and I’m glad we didn’t disappoint him. Thanks Chris.
2.20.2009 | By Sean
I used to have the demo tape? I believe monstrosity was on it… there was a evil dead sample just before.. It had the heaviest sound I could imagine at the time. I would kill to find another copy (even digital) thanks for the post.
6.17.2010 | By zach
i remember hearing about drowning room in high school ‘98 in CT. i bought the 7’ at a Divided By Hate show at a Veteran’s Hall. i still listen to Drowning Room and it’s cool to find a random blog about them. cool shit
9.3.2010 | By brian
Honestly, the most talented band that came out of the whole scene, and I’ve seen them all…...........Dissolve was awesome, but DR’s shows were the best!!!
2.29.2012 | By Spider
Chris, shoot me an email sometime…......
2.29.2012 | By Spider
Just popping in in case anyone is still interested. We are doing a show on October 6th 2012 at the Loft in Poughkeepsie NY with Living Laser, Problems, Devil May Care and Palehorse. We’re all old now and so this is more than likely the last time we will be doing this. And for those going, it will be unlike any Drowning Room show you have ever seen….that is if you have ever seen us. And if you haven’t, it will still be unlike any Drowning Room show you have ever seen.
Hope to see some of you there.
8.9.2012 | By Sean