Directed & Edited by Matthew Schwab
Two years have passed since the release of Junius’ critically-acclaimed album The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist. After touring solidly across North America, the UK, and Europe for the last several years, Junius will release their highly anticipated follow-up, Reports from the Threshold of Death, October 25 on Prosthetic Records.
With their last album, Junius explored the controversial theories of scholar Immanuel Velikovsky. Influenced heavily by the trials and tribulations of Velikovsky’s life, the album’s concept provided a captivating narrative to the band’s expansive, dreamlike soundtrack, which Pitchfork.com called “a rich, immersive experience, a bleak jewel of a record that takes obsession as its theme and rewards it in equal measure."
Conceptually picking up where The Martyrdom left off (with the death of Velikovsky), Reports chronicles the journey of the soul after physical death. In writing this album, vocalist/guitarist Joseph Martinez was inspired by reports and accounts of near-death experiences. On the album’s ten beautifully cathartic tracks, the band takes listeners on a journey into the unknown, channeling basic human themes like love, regret, and longing. Massive walls of atmospheric, reverb-drenched guitars soar with steadfast rhythm throughout the album’s arc, providing a passionate journey into the light.
Described by Rolling Stone as “a perfect hybrid of Neurosis and The Smiths,” the members of Junius have crafted their own distinctive style of genre-bending rock that’s borne of experiments in isolation and asceticism. It’s this austere approach from one of America's hardest working bands that adds a weighty sense of purpose and intrigue to their output.
Reports from the Threshold of Death was the first album to be recorded at Will Benoit's Radar Studios in Clinton, CT (the first fully solar-powered sustainable recording studio on the East Coast) with longtime friend/producer James Dunham of rock-noir band InAeona. The recording was in many ways a return to Junius’ roots, with engineering assistance from past collaborators Benoit and Daryl Rabidoux. mastering by Nick Zampiello and Rob Gonnella (Isis, Converge, Torche, Doomriders), and art designed by former Junius bassist Ira Bronson (of Black Day Creative).
