Pulchra Morte

Pulchra Morte (ˈpul.kʰra / ˈmɔr.te) began with the idea to re-capture a feeling that has become increasingly scarce in the dense landscape of extreme music today - formation of songs containing weight, atmosphere and feeling.

Started by Clayton Gore and Jason Barron (formerly of St. Louis staple Harkonin) with Jeffrey Breden in 2017, the trio began writing songs with the intention of recapturing the purpose of greats from the late-‘80s through early-‘90s doom-laden death metal scene, a point where feeling superseded technicality. During this process, Clayton reached out to long-time friend and co-creator, producer/engineer Jarrett Pritchard (1349, Goatwhore, Wolvhammer, Gruesome, Exhumed, etc.), the two of them enjoying a 30-year friendship and collaboration from the days of the seminal death metal band Eulogy (Tampa, FL).

Joining forces, the band completed the recording of their debut album at Pritchard's New Constellation Studios in Orlando, Florida, with Pritchard taking on bass and auxiliary guitar duties as well as producing and engineering the album. It also features the vocal talents of Heather Dykstra, who was another Eulogy co-conspirator (her backing vocals featured on the band's now legendary The Essence EP), as well as cellist Naarah Strokosch. The album includes backing vocals by Tor Stavenes, better known as Seidemann of 1349 and Svart Lotus.

Upon completion of the album, the band immediately released a lyric video for a rough mix of the song "Soulstench" while the rest was being mixed by Pritchard between tours. Full rehearsals took place in Chicago over the summer of 2018, with Dylan Kilgore of Withered being recruited to play bass while Pritchard moved to full-time guitar. Band intact, the rehearsals yielded excellent results, and from these sessions a proper video for the first single "Soulstench" was produced.

In its wake, while dealing with the business of releasing the full-length, it was decided that a limited edition 7" would be issued of "Soulstench" with a beautiful tribute to the mighty Paradise Lost, covering the classic song "The Painless" from the band's Gothic LP, as an exclusive B-side. The band has wrapped up a deal for the full-length's release in early 2019 and booking select dates while already hard at work on the follow-up album.

The idea remains the same - feeling, atmosphere, songwriting, and weight with unabashed creativity above all else. We are in an excellent spot. We have the ability to create and record as often as we like, and will do exactly that. The debut album, entitled Divina Autem Et Aniles, carries the listener back to an era where heaviness and darkness were king.