Seattle sludge/hardcore trio GREAT FALLS have put their new album The Bite That Grows Up up to stream in full via Decibel Magazine, ahead of its release this Friday, October 16, on NEUROSIS' label Neurot Recordings. Members of the band have also played in KISS IT GOODBYE, UNDERTOW, PLAYING ENEMY, BASTARD FEAST and GAYTHEIST.
The forty-minute record leans into what made the band one of the heaviest acts in the Pacific Northwest: sludge and hardcore brutality shot through with emotional post-metal, scathing noise dirges, punishing drums and a low end that flattens everything. Decibel's own take is that calling it sludge-influenced hardcore would be "a gross oversimplification," pointing to "the Converge-esque chaos" and "the crushing reminders of death metal, grindcore, and math-rock mixed in with all the noise."
The band admit they went into the studio nervous. They tracked the songs without playing any of them live first and worried how people would take them. Now they've played almost the whole record to crowds, and the band say it's landing the way they hoped: "anxious, desperate and heartbroken."
Guitarist/vocalist Demian Johnston, bassist Shane Mehling and drummer/vocalist Nickolis Parks are joined on the record by longtime collaborator John Schork (HALF MAJESTY) on extra instrumentation. The single "Nicotine In The Spine," which we covered in September, features extra vocals from Peter Clement Lund, the late guitarist and vocalist of Danish band and GREAT FALLS tourmates KOLLAPSE, who died a few weeks after recording them. Scott Evans (NEUROSIS, SUMAC, SHEARLING) engineered the album at Studio Litho and mixed it at Antisleep, and Brad Boatright mastered it at Audiosiege. Demian Johnston did the illustration and design, and Mitchell Wojcik took the photos.
The Bite That Grows Up is out on CD, digital and LP in neon orange, mustard and black/gold burst splatter variants.
GREAT FALLS have just come off an eastern North American run with KOWLOON WALLED CITY, which included a set at Emissions From The Monolith. Next, they open for labelmates NEUROSIS on two West Coast dates:
- November 27, 2026 — Revolution Hall, Portland, OR
- November 29, 2026 — Showbox SODO, Seattle, WA
Order The Bite That Grows Up: Neurot Recordings