The Smothering Arms of Mercy

GROWTH began as a study in isolation by brothers Tristan (guitars/bass/artwork) and Nelson Barnes (drums) in Melbourne, Australia, after a decade's absence from each other while pursuing music overseas. With the line-up soon rounded out by Luke Frizon on vocals (ex Jack The Stripper), the trio set out to create music that explored the human aspects of connection, trauma, despair, and the fragility of hope. The result is THE SMOTHERING ARMS OF MERCY, a claustrophobic narrative of total spiritual collapse written while in psychiatric care and thrown over nine suffocating acts. This marks the first part of a trilogy, detailing in honesty the extremity of recovery from mental illness. The debut album was recorded in Melbourne, produced and engineered by Growth, drums engineered by Troy McCosker (Ne Obliviscaris), and mixed/mastered by Fredrik Nordström (Opeth, The Haunted) in Gothenburg, Sweden. MERCY highlights the extremity of grief and asks the listener to reflect on their relationship with loss and vulnerability. Pain can be the source of your power. Learn to greet it as a friend