Midwest kvlt extreme metal band Pulchra Morte, featuring current and former members of Wolvhammer, Eulogy, Harkonin, Withered, and more will unleash their Divina Autem Et Aniles debut via Ceremonial Records. The death-doom band are streaming their new album in full right now, so get all over that in a few minutes. In the meantime, the guys in the band joined the ranks of many who have joined our popular Fave Concert Memory series. In a rare move, we have a story from each member of Pulchra Morte! Hails!
Jeff:
When my father took me to see Rush on the “Snakes And Arrows” tour is my favorite pre-band concert. I was still in high school and knew as soon as I witnessed the brilliance that I had to be in a band. Of course, this should not surprise anyone – it is Rush after all.
Jason:
Probably my favorite was seeing Venom at Eagle’s Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not sure the year, however, I remember the following year Sodom played. Maybe ’96 or ’97? I’m surprised Venom didn’t burn the place down – you could feel the heat all the way in the back of the ballroom hahaha!! I wasn’t expecting cannons and showers of fire! Was fucking amazing and they destroyed! I got to meet and hang out with them at the Sounds Of Death magazine autograph signing. Very awesome guys took pictures with me and gave me a poster flag that hangs in my upstairs bedroom.
Jarrett:
I started playing in bands when I was really young – it’s hard to determine when they became “real” bands, but my most important concert memory is probably a Sunday in the spring of 1986. By chance, I got a flyer with a bunch of band’s names on it I had never heard of, but it was all ages and a punk show, so we went. I called a friend and a bunch of us piled into the truck and headed out to Virginia Beach looking for this cryptic address on the flyer. When we arrived, we found that it was a strip mall and the space was tiny, like an insurance office might be. Apparently owned by someone’s parents and repurposed that day as a makeshift venue. The bands – Four Walls Falling, What If?, and The Crux – were set up on the floor in the corner. The place was filled beyond imaginable capacity, the crowd conspicuously spilling out into the parking lot of suburban Lynhaven. Freaks everywhere as one when it meant something. When being different was a commitment. When thinking differently meant taking your own safety into your hands every time you stepped out of the house. Inside the office, the bands had erupted into what I could only describe as crossover – COC (Animosity era), Accüsed-style mid-’80s hardcore. The entire place was moving. Feet, fists, elbows, in rhythm with the music – this was no idiot mosh pit. This was the real thing, circular tribal slamming. I had been swallowed into the movement, as had everyone on the floor…my elbow connected with someone’s face. Purely unintentional, my friend Scott’s face was leaking red, and we kept going. Flailing like a mad skanksman. People were falling to the floor. The front row was a human barricade to keep the band intact. The counter in the once-commercial office made of wooden panel board had been kicked in. And before you knew it, the power shut down. Bullhorns. People running, the boys in blue slamming people into their car hoods. The show’s promoter, a teenager, trying to reason with the police as my friends and I made a quiet exodus, leaving the mayhem behind. We spent the rest of the day riding around in the truck – we met some of the Beach Punks and went to their apartment, which was really more of a squat, and hung out with them. That day was the most important because I realized this all belonged to us, and anyone could make it happen if they had the desire and perseverance.
Dylan:
I didn’t get into a lot of heavier stuff until I moved out of the woods and had a lot more exposure to what else was out there. A couple of my pre-“real band” concert memories was an amazing Tom Petty show. I went with a friend and my folks were there separately. On the way out, we ran into one another and my mom says with a harsh tone “Look at your eyes!” Needless to say, I had smoked about a pound of weed through the show! Haha. I saw Marilyn Manson twice on the Antichrist Superstar tour in ’96-’97. I’m sure there will be plenty of comments and opinions to be had, but those were still two of the most intense, insanely chaotic shows I’ve ever seen. And one of my favorite memories from around that time was getting to attend a live radio interview with The Black Crowes in their rehearsal space. There were probably less than 25 people in the room. They did an interview for about an hour and closed the night by playing for only about 20 minutes. That totally blew my fucking mind!
Clayton:
My favorite pre-“real band” era show was probably in 1987 when my friend and I took the train from St. Louis up to Chicago, which was quite a long (but cheap) ride at the time, to see Voïvod and Kreator on the Killing Technology / Pleasure To Kill tour. It was such an amazing show. We stood outside for several hours waiting to get in, and we were right up front. We got in the venue, made a quick stop at the merch booth, bought three shirts each, put them all on so we wouldn’t have to hold them, and made our way right to the front of the stage. I also bought the After The Attack picture disc, so not only was I pressed against the stage the entire night, I had to try to protect the vinyl. Being a high school kid, it was actually pretty difficult! The venue was hot, the lights were hot, and we were wearing four shirts & headbanging – we sweat so much that we didn’t have to worry about taking a piss and losing our spot all night. Just, right on the stage, shouting all the lyrics, high-fiving the bands. After the show, we were just hanging around outside. Eventually, both bands came out front. We got to chat with them for a while and got them to sign our shirts. Oh, and as an added bonus, there was a record store right next to the venue. Since we got there so early, we were looking around the record store before the show until a couple more people started lining up outside. It was a metal store. As we were poking around, we heard this fucking crazy music coming from the store speakers. Some of the fastest double-bass drumming I’d ever heard, inhuman screeching vocals, and blazing-fast picking & melodic riffs. My mind was melted! I went up to the counter and asked the guy what the hell this was we were hearing. He said, “Oh, this is a new band Macabre! The album is right over there!” I went directly over and picked up “Grim Reality”, then went back out to stand in line. Little did I know what that album would come to mean to me!! Between that album and that show, my life was forever different after that night.
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Divina Autem Et Aniles was recorded by Pulchra Morte guitarist/renowned producer/engineer Jarrett Pritchard (1349, Goatwhore, Wolvhammer, Gruesome, Exhumed, Brutality) at his own New Constellation Studios in Orlando, Florida and mastered by Chris Common (Tribulation, Primordial, Exhumed, Gruesome), and features the vocal talents of former Eulogy co-conspirator Heather Dykstra and cellist Naarah Strokosch as well as additional backing vocals by Tor Stavenes, AKA Seidemann of 1349 and Svart Lotus. Cover art by Jordan Barlow (Goatwhore, Haarp, Psychon Vex).
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