GREAT FALLS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
THE BITE THAT GROWS UP
OUT VIA NEUROT RECORDINGS 16TH OCTOBER
LISTEN TO “NICOTINE IN THE SPINE” TODAY
Seattle, Washington-based Great Falls announce their vicious, brutal and uncompromising new album The Bites That Grows Up, arriving via Neurot Recordings on 16th October.
Listen to the new track “Nicotine In The Spine” below.
When Great Falls released their Neurot Recordings debut Objects Without Pain (2023), it sounded like one of the most crushing and despondent albums ever to come out of the Pacific Northwest. Drawing favourable comparisons to artists like Ken Mode, Chat Pile and Old Man Gloom, it showed clear influence from seminal artists throughout its history, alongside a progression all their own.
Between legendary live performances at Roadburn in 2025, Northwest Terror Fest in 2026, direct support on Botch’s final European tour and a recent US stint with heavyweight juggernauts Primitive Man, the band re-teamed with Scott Evans (Neurosis, Sumac, Shearling) for their follow-up. Before going into the studio, they aimed for a tamer counterpart to their previous record, like the fallout after an atom bomb. The result, their new album The Bites That Grows Up, turned out to be more vicious, brutal, and uncompromising than ever.
Joining the trio of guitarist/vocalist Demian Johnston (Playing Enemy, Kiss It Goodbye), bassist Shane Mehling (Playing Enemy), and drummer/vocalist Nickolis Parks (Gaytheist), guesting on the album is frequent collaborator John Schork (Half Majesty), and the lead single “Nicotine In The Spine” features additional vocals by Peter Clement Lund, the late guitarist/vocalist of Danish band and Great Falls tour mates Kollapse, who tragically passed away a few weeks after tracking these vocals. Johnston writes his lyrics tersely, saying only what is necessary to make a point. While the guitar riffs are notoriously difficult to recreate, using bizarre tunings that find dissonance in every chord, his words on The Bites That Grows Up are to the point. Short sentences, fragments of conversations, and brief but startling admissions of guilt. They centre around a group therapy session that Johnston has invented for himself, saying “I stained the glass, I built the church, I am here every week” on “Worse Than Sleep.” In this mental safehaven, he makes uncomfortable confessions and necessary apologies, with the lead single “Nicotine In The Spine” addressing his own daughter. “I’m not prepared. I’m barely Dad. You should run to the woods. Find a pack. Find a home.” He is not vague or verbose, but uses poignant declarations and his flamethrower of a scream to draw you in.
Photo credit: James Rexroad
This entire album is a chaotic listen with disorienting rhythms and dissonant riffs that are difficult to pin down, turning on a dime as soon as you try to nod your head to it. This is largely thanks to the complex, lightning-fast drumming of Parks and Mehling’s destructive bass tone, written to line up with Johnston, or completely deviate, at the right time. Mehling is also known for a stage presence just as intense and aggressive as the monstrous tone of his instrument. Johnston and Mehling have been best friends for 25 years, and when the latter dives into the audience because his rig stopped working, all the other can do is laugh, and simply respond with “It’s not supposed to sound like that.”
The Bite That Grows Up is full of pummeling misery and heartbreak, yet the most arresting part of the record is a moment of relief. “Hailstone Numbers” is the most dynamic song on the album, highlighting the subtle noise embellishments of collaborator John Schork that are omnipresent throughout the record. The first half is most comparable to a funeral dirge, as Parks replaces his typical kick with a broken drum, his “cymbal” a metal chain, scraping on the studio’s concrete floor. Distant drones help the song seamlessly morph into the album’s emotional peak. “When we see that where we come from is where we go” is the longest sentence spoken on the record, and it encapsulates the biggest fear prodding Johnston’s mind. Death is the one thing he feels he has in common with those around him, and eventually, we will all come crashing down with it. His scream is searing, a blowtorch against the skin.
On the closer, “What No One Can Give”,” Johnston reflects on what could have been, how everything was supposed to pan out for his daughter, as he walks out of the mind church he has constructed once more. “Tell me it worked,” he begs. “That she’s all right. That she’s okay.” The album ends just as fiercely as it began, coming to a close so soon despite songs that contain multitudes within themselves, questions dying to be answered by someone who might be able to help. We have to wonder where Great Falls could possibly go from here. How high can they build? How expansive will their sound become in the future? The Bite That Grows Up sticks with you long after you catch it.
The Bite That Grows Up album cover
Track Listing:
1. A Small Weakness
2. Pinned Against Time
3. Worse Than Sleep
4. Hailstone Numbers
5. Nicotine in the Spine [listen]
6. Debt Ethics
7. Buildings Full of Rope
8. What No One Can Give
The album was engineered by Scott Evans (Neurosis, Sumac, Shearling) at Studio Litho, owned by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam, mixed by Evans at Antisleep, mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Nails, Obituary, Deadguy), and completed with photography by Mitchell Wojcik and illustration and Design by Demian Johnston.
Neurot Recordings will release the album on neon Orange, Mustard, and Black/Gold Burst Splatter vinyl, as well as CD, with T shirt bundles available.
