Date Signed:July 2024
Label: MNRK Heavy
Type of Music:Hard Rock, Metal
Management:SL Management
Booking:Mike Monterulo TKO
Publicity:Atom Splitter PR
A&R: Scott Givens
Web: shadowsfallmusic.com
Shadows Fall have, as they say, lived a life. Emanating from the primordial soup of Boston’s heavy music scene in the mid-‘90s, the quintet had a helluva run in its first 20 years, cementing Shadows Fall as a critical component of metalcore at large. Amid the waning of the subgenre, the band broke up in 2014 and spent a solid seven years in dormancy before finally reuniting. Thankfully for fans, that reunion also promised new material, with Shadows Fall whetting fans’ appetites with new single “In the Grey.”
Facilitating the rebirth of the band led by vocalist Brian Fair is MNRK Heavy, the independent, New York-based record label that inked a deal with Shadows Fall late last year.
“I had MNRK on my radar as a label we wanted to approach because of how perfect the roster was for a band like us,” Fair says. “Our manager, Scott Lee, had a great relationship with some of the people there, so they came out to Massachusetts to hang with us and things felt great, right from the start.”
When pressed further on which MNRK bands most attracted Shadows Fall to the label, Fair noted Ace Frehley and Creeping Death.
“They cover a wide spectrum of heavy music, and it felt like a perfect match for us,” Fair says. “[MNRK] were also willing to be creative with how we release songs, which was also important to us.”
Fair said Shadows Fall’s stipulations primarily revolved around the fact that the other band members—lead guitarist/backing vocalist Jon Donais, rhythm guitarist/clean vocalist Matt Bachand, bassist Paul Romanko, and drummer Jason Bittner—are in other projects. That means it’d take a minute for the band to record a new album, and that Shadows Fall can’t commit to touring too heavily.
Fair also negotiated a song-release arrangement that he feels is an adaptation “to the new music industry landscape.”
“We wanted to be able to drop singles as they were completed and then try and drop the full album when all the songs were completed,” Fair said. “Before Shadows Fall went on hiatus, the music business was in a much different place with very traditional record contracts and release schedules, but those days are really gone."
All in all, he’s happy and humbled by Shadows Fall's new record deal.
“I’m super-stoked to be labelmates with Zakk Wylde, Underoath, Crowbar, Toxic Holocaust, and a bunch more,” Fair said.
