Exclusive Track Premiere: Orphan Donor’s “You Were Alive”

Anyone who loves metallic hardcore will love “You Were Alive,” the inhumanely merciless new track from Pennsylvania’s Orphan Donor. It’s sadness sheathed in brass knuckles, a primal, irrepressible cry of anguish given form as a wrecking ball.

Anyone who has ever lost a loved one and then had the bittersweet experience of seemingly being reunited with that loved one in an all-too-real dream will understand the reason the torment on “You Were Alive” feels so authentic is because, well… it is.

Explains multi-instrumentalist Jared Stimpfl (Secret Cutter):

“I’ve had a recurring dream throughout my life, my father just gets home from work… He’s frantically gathering his things for the next day and I can’t see him since he’s facing away from me constantly. I’m pleading with him, ‘Stop moving! You’re here and I have so much to tell you about!’ He’s out the door and years go by. I had a lucid dream not too long ago that I answer the door in some cabin… And he’s standing there, facing me, Alive and breathing. I hug him, and I can feel his skin, touch his face, and I see his eyes. He’s right fucking there in front of me, and it’s as real as anything I’ve experienced in waking life. I wake up completely stunned and immediately call my mom and sister. It shook me for days. It’s just another one of those moments where I can’t believe my brain tricks me so well. This song is about that dream.”

If you read that and can’t decide if it makes you wanna cry and smash a glass bottle against the wall, “You Were Alive” is the song for you. We are way stoked to be debuting it today, and implore you to listen below!

The track will appear on Orphan Donor’s new album, Unraveled, which comes out digitally and on three different vinyl variants on June 11 via Zegma Beach Records. Stimpfl performs all the guitars, bass, drums, and other instrumentation on the album; he also recorded and mixed it. Vocals are by Chris Pandolfo (Clouds Collide). Unraveled was mastered by Arthur Rizk (Cavalera Conspiracy, Power Trip, Xibalba) and completed once again with the expectedly bizarre artwork/design of James Ravelle, who has crafted visuals for prior Orphan Donor output.

Find preorders for Unraveled at Bandcamp here, the US label shop here, and the international label shop here.