Replacire Premiering 'The Center That Cannot Hold'

June 20, 2024

"A band on their way to the top" - Angry Metal Guy
"Leave you with a smile on your face and the horns in the air" - Metal Injection
"Mixes the pummeling intensity of Dying Fetus with the proggy eccentricity of Leprous" - No Clean Singing
"Engrossing brutality and neck-breaking charm. Truly the best of both worlds" - Dead Rhetoric

"This is tech death via the impersonal beating of Meshuggah at their harshest, or Norma Jean's utterly punishing classic Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, or maybe The Dillinger Escape Plan's legendary first album Calculating Infinity. It's the sort of album I haven't heart for years, one that's both unconventional and well-crafted, making for music that's impenetrable yet addictive nonetheless." - Wonderbox Metal

"A majorly intense album that could turn on a dime, roar up like a mountain lion, or retreat with the skill of a mongoose" - Metal Temple(8/10)

"These guys are the real deal of tech" - The Progressive Subway

The idea behind Replacire's new album was simple. Write some straight-ahead chuggers to feed the mosh pit the next time these tech-death brainiacs went on tour.

It wasn't so easy. But despite countless Zoom calls, bouts with sleep paralysis and one near trip to the hospital, the Boston band sound stronger than ever on The Center That Cannot Hold.

The Center That Cannot Hold comes out tomorrow, Friday, June 20 on Season of Mist. But you can run through all 11 brain-busting tech-death workouts today thanks to No Clean Singing, who are premiering the full album stream.

Listen to The Center That Cannot Hold

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2024/06/20/an-ncs-album-premiere-and-a-review-replacire-the-center-that-cannot-hold/

Pre-order and Stream

https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Take a closer look at their name and it’s clear why Replacire has become synonymous with Eric Alper. After all, Alper is their sole original member, having started the band all the way back in 2009 as a student at Berklee College of Music. When he's not producing other people's records at Ugly Duck Studios, Alper is sculpting his own physique as a competitive body builder. But during the sessions for The Center That Cannot Hold, he was feeling weighed down by the world.

"The pandemic was hard on us", Alper says. "We were all set to hit the studio together in March of 2020. But after the pandemic shut everything down, I had to sell our tour van and give up our rehearsal space just to keep my head above water".

The mounting stress would've left a lesser band bloody-tongued and screaming. "All hope lies crimson on the hill / sinking", groans James Dorton on the album's dissonant and demolishing opener. "Living Hell" was inspired by a nasty spell of sleep paralysis that Dorton suffered after witnessing a traumatic event. Meanwhile, Alper was battling his own bouts with anxiety and depression that were brought on by a nagging case of writer's block. The opening frenzy of "The Helix Unravels" has been hammering through his skull since 2017.

"There were days when all I could do was lay on the couch and hum a half-finished riff", he says.

But despite this perfect shit storm, Replacire banged their heads together and pulled through on The Center That Cannot Hold. Poh Hock twists and turns those unfinished sections on "The Helix Unravels" into a tight, three-minute burst that works all of tech-death's core muscles: glitching fret bends, jazzy interludes and downpicked chugs that could break even the thickest of necks. The band's rhythm section takes the reins on the title track. Joey Feretti starts off fully aslant with harsh syncopated drum thwacks, only for bassist Zak Baskin to dunk the song's middle passage into a trippy breakdown.

Of course, Dorton is no slouch either. "James recorded vocals for the title track in one full take, with no stops, over and over, until we got it right", says Alper, who was looking for his mighty vocalist to spit out the same uncontrolled vulnerability as Slipknot's self-titled LP. Clearly, Dorton took that inspiration to heart. When the song suddenly cuts out with a muffled thump, you might think that’s his body hitting the floor instead of the mic.

“The next morning, he woke up shaking uncontrollably and his face was white as a sheet" Alper remembers. "He came back to life after we got some fluids into him, though for a moment, I was worried that he needed to go to the hospital”

Thankfully, Replacire are seasoned pros. Hock, Ferretti and Baskin are also Berklee graduates and Dorton was the vocalist for Black Crown Initiate before he filled in on tour for Ne Obliviscaris. "I am your lord god", he roars on "A Fine Manipulation", as if throwing the weight of the world off his shoulders, before the rest of the band launches into the album's most muscular breakdown.

"We poured all of our blood, sweat and tears into The Center That Cannot Hold", Alper says. "It took years off my life. There were plenty of days where I wanted to quit. But I'm glad we didn't, because this is our best album. Everything from the overall production down to the lead guitar parts took a step up. The tone is more serious. The songs are still techy, but they're also a lot heavier. I'm proud of us".

On The Center That Cannot Hold, Replacire stand stronger than ever.

Line-up
Eric Alper - Guitars
James Dorton - Vocals
Kee Poh Hock - Guitar
Zak Baskin - Bass
Joey Ferretti - Drums

Recording Studio
Ugly Duck Studios

Production Credits
Eric Alper - Producer & Sound Engineer
Jens Bogren - Mixing & Mastering Studio Engineer (Fascination Street Studios)

Cover Art
Andrew Tremblay (@actremblayart)

Biography
Will Yarbrough

Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Follow Replacire:
Bandcamp: http://replacire.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Replacire
Instagram: https://instagram.com/replacire
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/replacire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Replacire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Replacire/videos
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/replacire/576863051
Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/6prhUUWzLoxLRVhK8
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0t8nNth1Y9dRxGoiHHSSoa

Available Formats:
Digital Download
CD Digipak
12" Vinyl Gatefold - Black

Replacire Release Razor-Sharp New Single

May 22, 2024

When Replacire started thinking about their third album, they gravitated around a simple idea. Write some caveman riffs to feed the mosh pit the next time they went out on tour. Of course, like any good technical death metal band that’s worth its weight in colored sands, these whiz kids deviated from their initial thought pattern. It wasn’t easy. Heck, they ended up crawling down a seven-year rabbit hole. But on The Center That Cannot Hold, the Boston band flex all their muscles

"This was a grueling process", says guitarist Eric Alper. "But it was worth it in the end".

On the surface, Replacire starts and ends with Alper. After all, the band is just his name spelled backward. Alper is a competitive bodybuilder with a mean and lean right rhythm hand, but don't let those beefy credentials fool you. When it comes to the studio, his brain does all the heavy lifting. By day, Alper produces music for other artists, as well as TV and movies. He's a proud alumnus of Berklee College of Music, which is where he formed Replacire with four classmates back in 2009.

Using the money that they savvily raised on Kickstarter, Replacire self-released their debut album by the end of 2012. A hybrid of thrash, prog and death metal, The Human Burden punched through the underground like a cyborg's fist. "This is what would have happened if Chuck Schuldiner were still alive today and mixed up with the likes of Obscura and Opeth at the same time", Metal Injection gushed. After tours with Hate Eternal and Beyond Creation and an unintentional private showcase for a certain label rep, Replacire signed with Season of Mist in 2016. The band wasted no time before making a quick first impression. While still head-spinning, their second album landed with the decisive force of a first-round knockout.

“This group has set the tone for modern, rhythmically-centered death metal”, proclaimed Loudwire, who named them one of the top 5 bands amongst the next generation of death metal. “It’s time to wake up and hop aboard Replacire’s train”.

Indeed, Replacire were chugging along with a full head of steam. But there's a reason why their new album is called The Center That Cannot Hold. After all, this is extreme metal. Things were bound to go flying off the rails at some point. Before they could even step out on their next headlining tour, the band's lineup completely turned over. While their momentum stalled, Alper went searching for replacements.

Luckily, he didn't have to go any further than his old stomping grounds. Alper linked up with Zak Baskin, who had filled in on bass for parts of Do Not Deviate. Alper then reconnected with Kee Poh Hock, a guitar whiz who'd lived with Baskin when all three were students at Berklee. Even though he graduated a few classes after them, Joey Feretti was so advanced behind the drum kit that he became Alper's roommate. With mighty vocalist James Dorton joining fresh off Black Crown Initiate's breakout, the new-and-improved Replacire were all set to hit Alper's Ugly Duck Studio come March of 2020.

No one needs to be reminded of what happened next. Replacire always grind in the studio, taking their sweet time to fine tune every technical detail down to the last seventh string. "It never ceases to amaze me the way other metal bands just churn stuff out", Alper says. "It doesn't come easy for us. So many hours go into so few seconds of music". But when the pandemic shut the world down, writing slowed to a crawl amidst the endless slog of Zoom sessions. With live music shut down for the foreseeable future, suddenly, their well-laid plan for pumping out an album of crowd killers seemed more and more like a flimsy proposition. To stay afloat, Alper sold the band's van and moved out of their rehearsal space.

"Everything that I had built to support the band was falling apart", Alper says.

The mounting stress would've left a lesser band bloody-tongued and screaming. But despite being stuck inside this perfect shit storm, Replacire banged their heads together and pushed through. "Living Hell" was inspired by a nasty spell of sleep paralysis that Dorton suffered after witnessing a traumatic event. "In the wake of suicide", he groans, shrouded by eerie pangs of distortion. Alper was battling his own bouts with anxiety and depression that were brought on by a rather severe case of writer's block, but even when all he could stand to do was lay on the couch while humming through a half-finished riff, Poh Hock would pick up his Strandberg and zip past the finish line. "The Helix Unravels" could twist all of Mensa into a pretzel with its interlocked chugs and squealing fret bends.

The Center That Cannot Hold is crammed full of mind-bending tech-death workouts. Baskin’s unfettered groove serves as the perfect springboard for another transcendent Hock solo halfway through "Hoard the Trauma Like Wealth", though his reverberated bass echoes like a sea of voices trapped at the bottom of a well on "The Ghost in the Mirror". The title track unspools under Feretti's syncopated snare hits and precision blasting, though Alper was the real drill sergeant. "I wanted the vocals to sound like they do on Slipknot's self-titled album, where Corey is gasping for air". Dorton took the inspiration to heart, running through full takes, with no stops, for hours on end. Heck, his vocal chords were so tattered and torn that he narrowly avoided a trip to the hospital.

"We poured all of our blood, sweat and tears into this album", Alper says. "It took years off my life. There were plenty of times where I wanted to quit. But I'm glad we didn't, because this is our best album. Everything from the overall production down to the lead guitar parts took a step up. The tone is more serious The songs are still techy buy they're also a lot heavier. I'm proud of us".

Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Follow Replacire:
Bandcamp: http://replacire.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Replacire
Instagram: https://instagram.com/replacire
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/replacire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Replacire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Replacire/videos
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/replacire/576863051
Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/6prhUUWzLoxLRVhK8
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0t8nNth1Y9dRxGoiHHSSoa

Available Formats:
Digital Download
CD Digipak
12" Vinyl Gatefold - Black

There's no box that Replacire can't break. The Boston tech-death band boasts multiple Berklee graduates, one hell of a voice actor and a competitive bodybuilder. But while writing and recording their upcoming third album, all too often, they felt trapped inside their own personal torture chamber. Hence why it's called The Center That Cannot Hold. Still, these guys banged their heads together and pushed way beyond the finish line. On new single "The Helix Unravels", they sound tighter than ever.

Listen to "The Helix Unravels" below.

The Center That Cannot Hold comes out June 21, 2024 on Season of Mist.

Pre-order & Stream: https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Replacire are always thinking up ways to break metalhead brains. "The Helix Unravels" stems all the way back to 2017. The song's opening frenzy was already drilled into Eric Alper's skull when the band was still hot off their first headlining tour. But just as they were all set to enter Alper's Ugly Duck Studio come March of 2020, the music industry hit a brick wall.

"The pandemic was hard on us", says Alper. "To stay afloat financially, we had to sell our tour van and move out of our practice space. It felt like everything that we had built up to support the band was falling apart".

As if that wasn't enough weight on his shoulders, the mounting stress knocked Alper into a nasty bout of writer's block. "There were days when all I could do was lay on the couch and hum a half-finished riff", he says. Luckily, Poh Hock was right beside him to help pick up the slack. Hock twists and turns "The Helix Unravels" into a tight, three-minute burst that works all of tech-death's core muscles: glitching fret bends, jazzy interludes and downpicked chugs that could break even the thickest of necks.

Still, it's the band who tie "The Helix Unravels" together. Joey Feretti never takes his foot off the bass drum pedal while Zak Baskin holds down a stomach-churning groove. "Say that we will see this through", James Dorton screams through clenched teeth before unleashing his mighty death growl.

"We poured all of our blood, sweat and tears into this album", Alper says. "There were plenty of times where we felt like quitting. But I'm glad we didn't. The Center That Cannot Hold is the album that Replacire has been striving for since the very beginning".

With "The Helix Unravels", Replacire prove their one of the tightest bands in tech-death.

Replacire Release Brain Busting New Single

April 17, 2024

No one can outsmart Replacire. Not only does the band hold several degrees from Berklee College of Music. Even their name is something of a puzzle. But for their long-awaited third album, they weren't interested in pumping out just another set of rigorously technical death metal. As their new single so finely demonstrates, they wanted to flex both their brains and brawn.

Listen to "A Fine Manipulation" below.

The Center That Cannot Hold comes out June 21, 2024 on Season of Mist.

Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Metalheads of all shapes and sizes have come to count on Replacire for a dizzying mental workout. The Center That Cannot Hold keeps those synapses firing. On "A Fine Manipulation", drummer Joey Ferretti and bassist Zak Baskin hardly break a sweat as they run you through a gauntlet of stomach-turning tempo shifts. Before the song is halfway through its compact four-minute runtime, Poh Hock has already lapped the field with a solo that hurdles through the air like a sprinter.

"A Fine Manipulation" will twist even the brainiest tech-death scholar into a pretzel, but the band's new single works out all your core headbanging muscles. After warming up with some curls of melodic dissonance and a few short but clenched bursts of nervy shredding, Hock gets a spot from rhythm guitarist Eric Alper as the two lock into the kind of steadily pulverizing downhill chug that's bound for the mosh pit.

"During our last tour, we noticed that fans really responded to the parts of our set that are heavier and more crushing", says Alper, who when he's not cranking out records at Ugly Duck Studios is competing as a body builder. "When writing our new album, we tried to come up with more songs like this one. 'A Fine Manipulation' retains that technical density that metal fans love, but it's also more straightforward and hard-hitting in a way that makes people move around".

Of course, it wasn't so easy for Replacire to stick to that relatively simple blueprint. Like their current label mates and former tour mates Gorguts and Beyond Creation, this band has always taken their time when it comes to the heavy lifting of writing a new album. But between the global pandemic, countless Zoom calls, bouts with writer's block, depression, anxiety, sleep paralysis and one near trip to the hospital, their new album is seven long years in the making.

But despite what the title might suggest, The Center That Cannot Hold holds strong and steady. Like any song that's worth its weight in heavy metal, "A Fine Manipulation" channels that chaotic shit storm into a concentrated, empowering force. James Dorton is so imposing that even his cleans thunder like Zeus, but his growls have never struck more fear.

"I am your lord god", he roars, as if throwing the weight of the world off his shoulders, before the rest of the band launches into the album's most muscular breakdown.

On "A Fine Manipulation", Replacire prove they're the full package.

"This was a grueling process", says guitarist Eric Alper. "But it was worth it in the end".

"Everything that I had built to support the band was falling apart", Alper says.

Replacire Announce New Album

March 20, 2024

Replacire Announce New Album The Center That Cannot Hold

Going into album number three, Replacire had their duck boats all in a row. The Bostonians were fresh off a short run supporting their kindred spirits Exist. With their new lineup squarely in place, the tech-death band were all set to re-enter their mastermind's studio come March 2020.

Of course, the pandemic soon laid waste to Replacire's well-laid plans. As the title suggests, nothing about the band's new album came easy. But after countless Zoom calls, grueling 12-hour recording sessions, sleep paralysis and one near trip to the hospital, The Center That Cannot Hold flexes all of their might.

The Center That Cannot Hold comes out June 21, 2024 on Season of Mist.

Listen to the title track below.

Order & Stream: https://orcd.co/replacirethecenterthatcannotholdpresave

Take a closer look at their name and it's clear why Replacire has become synonymous with Eric Alper. After all, Alper is their solo original member, having started the band all the way back in 2009 as a student at Berklee College of Music.

When he's not producing other people's records, Alper is sculpting his own physique as a competitive body builder. But during the sessions for The Center That Cannot Hold, he was weighed down by writer's block.

"I was stressed out from just trying to keep my head above water", Alper says. "When the pandemic shut everything down, I had to sell our tour van and give up our rehearsal space just to keep my finances together. There were a lot of writing sessions where all I could manage to do was hum a few chords".

Fortunately, help was close by. Replacire's lineup boasts three fellow Berklee grads. Alper might've managed to come up with the riff that chisels into the title track like a chainsaw through a hunk of granite, but Kee Po Hock fleshes out the head banging with zippy melodic leads and fret bends that sound as nerve-wracked as a malfunctioning cyborg. It's the rhythm section though that takes the reins on "The Center That Cannot Hold". Joey Feretti starts off fully aslant with harsh syncopated thwacks, only for bassist Zak Baskin to dunk the song's middle passage into a jazzy, unfettered breakdown.

James Dorton is no slouch, either. The former Black Crown Initiate vocalist has also filled in on tour for Ne Obliviscaris. Aside from his massive stage presence, Dorton is recognized amongst metalheads of all shapes and sizes for his annunciation. You can still make out every third word on "The Center That Cannot Hold", but he holds absolutely nothing back.

"I've been grey in my headspace", he growls with enough unclenched rage to bite through his tongue. "Just leave me bleeding in the dirt". Funny enough, Alper wanted "The Center That Cannot Hold" to scratch the same desperate itch as Corey Taylor's vocals on Slipknot's self-titled LP. Dorton took that inspiration to heart, too. When the song suddenly cuts out with a muffled thump, you might think that's his body hitting the floor instead of the mic.

"James recorded the vocals for this song in one full take, with no stops, over and over, until we got it right" Alper says. "The next morning, he woke up shaking uncontrollably and his face was so pale. He came back to life after we got some fluids into him, but for a moment, I was worried that he needed to go to the hospital"

"The Center That Cannot Hold was a bitch to make", Alper continues. "There were plenty of days when I doubted whether we would ever finish this album. But I'm glad we did. It was worth it, especially when you end up with songs that are this chaotic and heavy".

"This was a grueling process", says guitarist Eric Alper. "But it was worth it in the end".

"Everything that I had built to support the band was falling apart", Alper says.

Pre-save:
Pre-order: https://shop.season-of-mist.com/list/replacire-the-center-that-cannot-hold

Follow Replacire:
Bandcamp: http://replacire.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Replacire
Instagram: https://instagram.com/replacire
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/replacire
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Replacire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Replacire/videos
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/replacire/576863051
Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/6prhUUWzLoxLRVhK8
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0t8nNth1Y9dRxGoiHHSSoa

Available Formats:
Digital Download
CD Digipak
12" Vinyl Gatefold - Black