Your Spirit Never Dies – My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest – Via MNRK HEAVY – 2nd May
Small towns across America are home to countless untold stories, and Columbia, the state capital of South Carolina, is no exception. With a population just over 140K, this city may be small, but it’s big on spirit. Your Spirit Dies, hailing from this very place, channels that humble yet fierce energy, embodying an underdog work ethic and an unstoppable fire.
After buzzing nationwide and earning acclaim from the likes of Brooklyn Vegan, NO ECHO, and more, the group share their story on their full-length debut LP, My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest [MNRK Heavy], out 2nd May 2025.
“The record encapsulates every single thing we’re about,” notes Brandon. “We’re five people who were born in small towns in the South. We were never supposed to leave these places; we were ‘supposed’ to live and die here. We’re surrounded by a lot of dark, but also beautiful history. For us, the simple fact we’re doing this is huge. We tried to craft an album that stands on its own, and we busted our asses to make it as different as we possibly could.”
A few band members each cut their teeth in other regional favourites, with Brandon and Holden in Remembrance. Tyler in Hopesick. Keagan in Soul Press while Brannon does double duty on drums in Moru. Your Spirit Dies arrived in 2020 with the debut EP, The Process of Grief. Two years later, they accelerated their ascent with the follow-up EP, Our Saints Drown In Ash. Earning critical acclaim, Brooklyn Vegan hailed “2000 Needles” as “a raw, heavy metalcore song,” and NO ECHO raved, “The South Carolina-based quintet brings to mind the golden era of Trustkill Records.” Distorted Sound professed, “the band can receive no less than full marks for their command of the genre’s essentials.” They toured with the likes of Mychildren Mybride, Zao, No Cure, and more. Signing to MNRK, the musicians crafted what would become My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest in Connecticut alongside producer Greg Thomas [END, Misery Signals]. The guys not only leaned into influences as diverse as At The Gates, Killswitch Engage, Napalm Death, and Godflesh, but they also culled inspiration from giallo horror classics a la The Beyond. Samples from the latter were even woven into the fabric of the soundscape alongside the screams of Mia Goth from MaXXXine.
“Greg has been around the metalcore and hardcore scenes for a long time, and he understands what we’re trying to do,” Brandon goes on. “He pushed us to dig deeper into the bands who inspired the scene like At The Gates. Plus, he’s a crazy movie buff. Every night, we’d watch some fucking weird seventies Giallo film, which created a cool aesthetic.”
They bulldoze a path for My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest with the single ‘In The Depths of Grief’. Squeals practically choke the groove as the breakdown quakes with impressive force. ‘It’s personal,’ he elaborates. “My mom is seventy-one, and she just got back from the hospital. ‘In The Depths of Grief’ is about watching your loved ones grow older, wither, and eventually die. She isn’t there yet, but she has bad heart problems. When I was a teen, we had our differences. I did the whole rebel thing and got into stuff I probably shouldn’t have. I’m not as angry as I was, so our relationship is definitely better than it’s ever been.”
Piercing fretwork rains down over a double bass beatdown, alternating between guttural growls and haunting spoken word. Brandon’s roar explodes with a warning, “You will die alone.”
“We’ve all been affected by a narcissist at some point,” he sighs. “I’m drawing from my experiences with individuals who put themselves on a pedestal. Zao is a huge influence, and they’re the coolest dudes. Dan knocked it out of the park.”
“Serpentine” features Dan Weyandt of Zao. “We’ve all been affected by a narcissist at some point,” he sighs. “I’m drawing from my experiences with individuals who put themselves on a pedestal. Zao is a huge influence, and they’re the coolest dudes. Dan knocked it out of the park.”
Melodic guitar and ominous orchestration set the tone for “Unjust God,” giving way to rapid-fire drums and black metal-style tremolopicking. The barrage barely lets up as Brandon screams, “I stare into the eyes of an unjust god,” bleeding into a bold clean chorus.
“There are a lot of religious themes,” he reveals. “I lived in a Southern Baptist home for my entire life. Early on, I knew it was something I wasn’t interested in. The title, My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest, is a line from the Book of Job. The whole book is about God giving Job all of these trials and messing him up pretty badly. The song ponders, ‘Is God just?’”
Carson Pace of The Callous Daoboys lends his unmistakable voice to “Night Pierces My Bones.” Meanwhile, Blaythe Steuer of Alabama upstarts No Cure adds another level of vocal brutality to “A Snow in Summer.” He states, “‘A Snow In Summer’ discusses how mankind is bound to go extinct, because we treat everyone and everything like shit. We ruin everything.”
They reimagine and recharge an early favorite, “An Effigy of Failure,” to close out this body of work. The riff-laden catharsis teems with aggression and emotion in equal measure.
“‘An Effigy of Failure’ always got a great reaction live, so it was awesome to professionally record it for the first time,” he smiles. “Lyrically, it says, ‘Life on earth is a living hell, and I fear death no longer’.”
Ultimately, Your Spirit Dies deliver an inimitable vision of metalcore that might just uplift and inspire.
“This band has gotten me through a lot,” Brandon leaves off. “Before Your Spirit Dies, I had quit my old band and dropped out of music for two years. I was battling demons at home. Mike kept calling me and saying, ‘You need to play music again’. I’m glad I did, because it saved my life. I hope you can hear all of the pain, suffering, and healing that went into it.”
FFO: Poison The Well, Killswitch Engage, Cauldron
YOUR SPIRIT DIES ARE:
Brandon Byars – vocals
Tyler Dorman – guitars
Keagan McChesney – bass
Brannon Crumpton – drums
Holden Hall – guitars
TRACKLISTING:
01 – Trenches of Pain
02 – Serpentine (feat. Dan Weyandt of Zao)
03 – A Rose for Every Stone
04 – In the Depths of Grief
05 – Monochrome
06 – Born Forsaken
07 – Shrouded in Silence
08 – Ritual Sacrament
09 – A Snow in Summer (feat. Blaythe Steuer of No Cure)
10 – Unjust God
11 – Night Pierces My Bones (feat. Carson Pace of The Callous Daoboys)
12 – An Effigy of Failure