Joilet, IL’s MOLDER has today announced their third album, Catastrophic Reconfiguration, set for release via Prosthetic Records on November 8. Alongside the album announcement, MOLDER has shared the lead single and title track. The fetid death metal band find themselves resuscitated and reinvigorated in 2024, beginning Catastrophic Reconfiguration‘s touring cycle today (August 1) on their Invoking Decay US tour, which culminates on August 10 at the Hacked Up For Barbecue Festival in Cleveland, OH – full details below.
LISTEN TO CATASTROPHIC RECONFIGURATION (SINGLE) BELOW.
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Pre-order Catastrophic Reconfigurement here.
Speaking on the album announcement and title track, Aaren Pantke (vocals / guitar) comments: “This was the first song Carlos (Santini, lead guitar) wrote and contributed to the band. To play on the name, we wanted this to be representative of our “rebirth” as a band. It perfectly encapsulates all things “MOLDER”, yet showcases our new freshly sharpened edge. The song, at it’s core, is really about questioning “where we stand” in a modernized post-covid environment. Has the world gone too far with our own self indulgence? Did we deserve another chance? We learn towards no.”
The writing process for Catastrophic Reconfiguration included guitarist Carlos Santini for the first time, who brought more of a rounded and dynamic sound to the fold. Despite the new addition, finding time to write was the biggest challenge for the band, mainly due to their rigorous rehearsing and touring schedule for Engrossed, which included runs with Exhumed, Enforced, Jungle Rot and Fulci on top of festival appearances including Maryland Death Fest, Milwaukee Metalfest and Volcanic Strike Hawaii in Maui, to name a few. “Respect to those that tour full time, hold down jobs, and still find the time to be inspired enough to get it done!” remarks Pantke. “That said, we did get it done, it just took a little bit longer than we’d have liked! Once the ball got rolling, it stayed rolling”
Part of the refining of the new album meant going back to a more DIY approach to recording, with this time being done mainly at home with recording engineer, Matt Aguilar. Tracking in our basements injected a vigorous feeling back to the band. “Everyone annihilated their tracks in a matter of hours! Which for us is unheard of,” says Pantke. “This was easily the most prepared and comfortable we’ve ever been while cutting a record, and we owe a lot of that comfort to Matt.” The only setback the band faced was when Pantke broke his nose in an unfortunate incident right before he was set to record his vocals. Once completely healed, he nailed his takes and the tracks were sent off to Greg Wilkinson (Autopsy) at Ear Hammer Studios for mixing and mastering. “Greg was incredibly professional and a joy to work with. It was incredible working with someone so prestigious who so understood what it was we wanted to achieve. Total respect and absolute support to him!” exclaimed Pantke.
The resulting 10 tracks don’t stray too far from the band’s oozing, blistering sound. As usual, it’s chock full of Pantke’s riffs and agonized howls, but that’s not all. It still includes nauseating bass runs from Dominic Vaia, pounding drum performance from Kyle Pooley and mind melting leads from Carlos Santini. Proving their dynamics as a band haven’t deteriorated but have just been given more life. “You can still expect this to be a Molder record,” states Pantke. “Just musically and sonically better than the last! We simply wanted a shorter, nastier, and more professional sounding record than what we’ve done before.”
For the art, which has always been arranged by Pooley, he brought Mexican oil painter, Julian Felipe Mora Ibañez to the group, which they all agreed would be perfect. “The art concept for this record sort of follows the same as Engrossed in Decay, but this time rather than a death through decay, it’s a rebirth in it,” remarked Pantke. “We wanted it to pay homage to the works of Mental Funeral or Dark Recollections, amongst other things of course, but those two references definitely shine through on this particular piece. As far as colors go, we really wanted it to by a nice companion piece to the last record, without completely repeating it.”