#News #Stream Growth – Under the Under

Growth – Under the Under via Wild Thing Records out 27 March 2026

It brings me great pleasure to bring you news of the forthcoming album from Australian progressive death metal unit, Growth.  Their new album ‘Under The Under‘ is set for release on March 27th via Wild Thing Records. This is their second album in their planned trilogy, aimed at going beyond expressing emotion, illustrating pathways of recovery while acknowledging the most dread-filled aspects of it.

They released the blistering lead single ‘Remember Me As Fire‘ this week, which is the first taste of new music from the outfit since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Smothering Arms of Mercy‘ in 2020.

The gap between releases has been deliberate….and necessary. Where ‘The Smothering Arms of Mercy’ was written from within collapse, sickness and isolation, ‘Under the Under’ exists in the far more uncomfortable space that follows: what happens when survival is no longer the question and you’re forced to confront who you are once the wreckage settles. In the bands own words, healing, is not gentle. It is an ugly process. Chaotic, disorienting and often more confronting than the pain that preceded it.

Remember Me As Fire begins precisely where ‘…Mercy’ ended. Written from the perspective of existing below rock bottom, the track explores the moment where self-erasure feels easier than self-awareness — and the violence required to step beyond that.

The line “I thought I had already fallen as far as I could go” is delivered with almost vile contempt, before giving way to a subtle shift in tone, a fragile, uneasy suggestion of possibility “a shadow with a dream to grasp the warmth of sunlight.”

Please let me know if you would be interested in covering this astonishing record. The band are available for interviews, so please give me a shout if you wish to set something up. 

Over half a decade on from the release of their debut album, ‘The Smothering Arms of Mercy’, Melbourne progressive-death outfit Growth have re-emerged with ‘Remember Me As Fire’, the first new music from the long-awaited second chapter of their planned trilogy aimed at going beyond expressing emotion, illustrating pathways of recovery while acknowledging the most dread-filled aspects of it.That second chapter, titled ‘Under The Under‘ is planned for release on March 27 via Wild Thing Records.

The gap between releases has been deliberate….and necessary. Where ‘The Smothering Arms of Mercy’ was written from within collapse, sickness and isolation, ‘Under the Under’ exists in the far more uncomfortable space that follows: what happens when survival is no longer the question and you’re forced to confront who you are once the wreckage settles. In the bands own words, healing, is not gentle. It is an ugly process. Chaotic, disorienting and often more confronting than the pain that preceded it.

Growth began in 2017 as a reflective space for brothers Tristan Barnes (guitar/bass/artwork) and Nelson Barnes (drums), and vocalist LF, later joined by Nick Rackham (bass) and Ben Boyle (guitar), to explore trauma, mental illness and grief without romanticising them. The project was never intended as catharsis for its own sake, but as a way to illustrate recovery in all its brutality. not as linear progress, but as something fractured, cyclical and deeply human.

‘Remember Me As Fire’ begins precisely where ‘…Mercy’ ended. Written from the perspective of existing below rock bottom, the track explores the moment where self erasure feels easier than self awareness, and the violence required to step beyond that.The line “I thought I had already fallen as far as I could go” is delivered with almost vile contempt, before giving way to a subtle shift in tone, a fragile, uneasy suggestion of possibility “a shadow with a dream to grasp the warmth of sunlight”.“Remember Me As Fire” isn’t a demand for legacy, but a refusal to disappear quietly into the abyss. Fire in this context doesn’t equal triumph, but awareness. Painful, consuming and necessary.

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