Label: Metropolis

Reissued 11/17/2023, Originally released 2021

Limited 2LP set With a cinematic blend of post-punk, goth, alternative & post-rock, emotive melodies, propulsive rhythms, angular guitars, and dark cinematic electronics, Toronto's TRAITRs has become one of the dark music scene's fastest rising artists. In November 2021 the band released "Horses In the Abattoir". A turbulent, atmospheric, & enthralling album, which Sean-Patrick Nolan described to post-punk.com: "To me this whole record is about passing time & aging; the frailty and impermanence of existence. How everything we know and love exists briefly before disappearing into nothing. This record covers a wide emotional spectrum from the beautiful to the horrific, overwhelming strength to heartbreaking vulnerability..." Shawn Tucker said "The theme of the record pulls heavily from the title: taking something innocent and beautiful and ending its life for no reason. In retrospect, 'Horses' captures the darkest period of our entire lives and that hurt bleeds out all over the record. I can definitely say we are still the same band, but certainly not the same inside ourselves. Somehow 'Horses' became its own beast and solidified its own place in the world. At times it seemed like all we had left was 'Horses' and the record felt much stronger and self-contained than us. We stepped out of ourselves for a while, imploding, almost not finding our way back. We just were not that well to be completely honest. It was a destructive time and I didn't even realize what was happening until the storm had finally passed. Despite all this, we had written 17 songs, over a hundred fragments and were excited to start a new phase of our career with Freakwave Records. When I hear this record, it pulls things out of me that you might not want to feel or confront, but that's what making art should be about. This record's filled with anger, sadness, beauty, hurt, love, loss and beyond. I'm very proud of this record. It's our best work to date, hands down, our post-depression record."

Track listing:

Horses In The Abattoir

1. Sea Howl
2. Mouth Poisons
3. Prostitution
4. Magdalene
5. Oh, Ballerina
6. Tv Hours
7. All Living Hearts Betrayed
8. From This Old Mirror
9. Ghost And The Storm
10. Last Winter
11. The Way Through A Bird’s Love

The Sick, Tired, And Ill

1. Magdalene
2. Sweet Home
3. In Paintings, I know The Killing Place
4. Burn To The Sun
5. Eat The Glass Of A Dying Heart
6. The Darkly Thrush