We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Innovations of Grave Perversity

by Eric Terino

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition 140g Maroon vinyl edition of Eric Terino's "Innovations of Grave Perversity" LP. Includes 4-page lyric booklet.

    Includes bonus Perpetual Doom sticker designed by Eric Terino.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Innovations of Grave Perversity via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 21 days
    edition of 70 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition 140g Smoky Clear vinyl edition of Eric Terino's "Innovations of Grave Perversity" LP. Includes 4-page lyric booklet. Initial orders include bonus enamel pin, while supplies last.

    Includes bonus Perpetual Doom sticker designed by Eric Terino.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Innovations of Grave Perversity via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 21 days
    edition of 30  5 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $27 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Limited edition Smoky Clear cassette edition of Eric Terino's "Innovations of Grave Perversity" LP. Includes 7-Panel fold out insert with exclusive artwork and full album lyrics.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Innovations of Grave Perversity via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 21 days
    edition of 100 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD or more 

     

1.
Felt 05:13
All I’ve ever tried to say is that I think I’m going insane, I just haven’t found a way to articulate it clearly. I’ve been jailed in the arms of men, confined by the shelter they lent, impaled in their basements, hollowed out and primed again. I’ve wished to say I tried my best so I could put this thing to bed, but all I pray is not to die alone. Alone. I’ve been leaning on the edge again, I’m still falling for the wrong men. I’ve been thinking about everything I felt. I felt. All I ever wanted was to feel like I was loved, but nothing ever measures up in this well that I’ve dug. Lately it seems the world could end, (A cursed fog is settling on land) I’m losing faith in Man more often. (Swollen winds twist and bend) Where will that leave me when I’m dead? (I have always been one of these men) Will they say I was mad? I’ve wished to say I found my peace in this anonymity, but I still pray that I don’t die alone. Alone. I’m still reeling from the whole of it, it’s been more painful than I can admit. I can’t fathom how I must’ve felt. Felt. So let’s just say I gave it all that I could, and that’s enough to get me through another lonely day, today. I’ve been clinging to the past again, I’m still fighting for the wrong man. I’ve been drowning in everything I felt. I felt. If I ever find a way to get out of my head, I’ll be saved. If I ever find a way, I’ll be saved. I’ll be saved.
2.
Immobilized permanently, we languish in waves remembering our dreams. Snow muffled sounds on streets lined with lights, where men let you drown so they can survive. Love can be so beautiful and so sad, it can kill the dying and torture the dead. Allegorized space in between the half and the hold, a parasitic dream. Palatial mounds of flesh against night. A longing abounds, but dawn’s just outside. Love can be so beautiful and so sad, it can kill the dying and torture the dead. Even though the heart may stall in solitary lands, allow it to keep mending, for life lies ahead.
3.
I crawl through the sinking sun and seep into the night, and I can feel a storm rising, storms rise all the time. Orphans scrambling along a parapet, touching the axon of a latent wish. I tremble still when I think of that, the moment I found out what I am. After you’ve known love you can never go back, and the heart never blooms when there’s snow on its tracks. We were soft and unafraid, huddled in rapturous youth. Every moment squalling through led us closer to the truth. A man who lurched through like a saint, a mouth that tumbled half awake, a feeling I still conjure now. In my dreams I still see you around. When you’re left alone, you can muddy up the path. And the heart needs a crutch if you dare to look back. Maybe tonight I will survive the storm my heart moves through, if only I could love myself the way I once loved you.
4.
Invocations 05:20
Invocations of dormant empathy resurrect the joy you sowed in me. The papers all read that you fell asleep in death, but these assemblies in my head belie their every sentiment. With a fervent desire I built your house by the sea, with walls of glass and a roof of masonry. Innovations of grave perversity summon all the hope that’s left in me. The caving of my chest, once a heaving hearth of flesh mantled by abandoned debts, governs over every breath. With a fervent desire I built your house by the sea, with walls of glass and a roof of masonry. Interpolations of honeyed memories gather all the life you left with me.
5.
Boulder 04:16
I’m still a boulder, never set off rolling, trembling, and free. Never chiseled out to see how smooth and wise I could’ve been. If I chased security in the face of scored immortality, would I fear the fall of time to find my gilded place among the heap? Ghosts surround me, they’re draped from every branch on every tree. They summon me to lay my weary body out with them constantly. Dereliction hovers threateningly over almost everything. If I cleared myself of doubt, would I be rid of this wordless ennui? Ropes bind me to this old house that you left long ago. If I root into its soil will I grow cold, childless, and alone? I’ve struggled to trust in the bouts of glorious conviviality. I’ve stitched my faith in disbelief, ‘cause I’ve learned things are never what they seem. I’m never leaving this damn house! I’m never leaving this damn house! I’m never leaving this damn house! I’m never leaving this damn house!
6.
In my youth I may have sworn on the resistance of my hand, but the veil of age shifts back to show I could be loved again. A refusal to be damned could unearth the warmth of man again. And it’s a long, long way from a fire escape in the neon-soaked light of the halcyon days to the solemn amber glow dressing these evening fields, that find me wandering still. After every drift climbs tall, that’s when I must lay down my arms to honor every step I’ve known that led me safely through these storms. The nights are still long, but the snow will withdraw in the end. And it’s a long, long way from a fire escape in the neon-soaked light of the halcyon days to the solemn amber glow dressing these evening fields, that find me wandering still. With a glint of faith in an inchoate stage, the persistence of those alleged halcyon days spare a final thought to me just before I go. They say, “One day, I’ll tell you what I know.”
7.
My father said, “Son, of my word take heed. They’ll try to confuse and they’ll try to deceive. Here’s what you must do, you must let them conceive. Let all of the foolish things be as foolish as they need.” Every body gets stoned and every one is dethroned. Now we have no place to go, so let’s all just go home. On top of a hill stood one silent star screaming for the light but damned to the dark. He flew determined, like a baby unmaimed, like the curse in his eyes, like a god without a name. Every body gets stoned and every one is dethroned. Now they’ve left us all alone, so let’s all just get stoned. My father said, “Son, he’ll use your hole to breed. You must scorn the condemned before they’re worth conquering. You must let all of the wretched things succeed the filth in his gut, the curse in his seed.” Every body gets stoned and every one is dethroned. Now they’ve left us all alone, so let’s all just get stoned. My son, he won't holler. He shall never feign greed. For I shall turn round and never have peace. Every body gets stoned and every one is dethroned. Now we have no place to go, so let’s all just get stoned. Every body gets stoned, every body gets stoned, every body gets stoned. Every one is stoned.
8.
I cast my mind back to a cornfield in South Bend, Indiana. I realize now that every day blossomed glory or disaster. I was ripe with devotion then, fireflies hung in our eyes. We were 700 miles from home, sloughing off cigarettes and pride. I was only passing through, could’ve landed anywhere. Yes, I stayed a year or two, but I didn’t live there. On the edge of spring we settled on a rooftop in Manhattan. Weary from traveling, the soles of our feet were scored and blackened. I was soft with elation then, he was draped across my mind. We’d drift down sidewalks at 3AM soaked in bourbon and moonlight. I was only passing through, could’ve landed anywhere. Yes, I stayed a month or two, but I didn’t live there. The blood of time is on my hands. Reveries dance through greyed vignettes. Dissonance can drown these revelations now. Evocations of the past are roped to what wouldn’t last. I was only passing through, could’ve landed anywhere. Yes, I stayed a week or two, but I didn’t live there. I’ve never been as bold as I was with him under that line of river lights. I slipped my hand under his sweater and sighed a slow and sad, “Goodnight.” I could never feel so sad again, and it could never feel so right. I could never feel like that again, youth twists fear into delight. I was only passing through, could’ve landed anywhere. Yes, I stayed a day or two, but I didn’t live there. I am only sorting through these shards of memory to share. I really must be going soon. You know, I never lived there. Other people live in our apartments now. They’ve rearranged our walls and trampled hallowed grounds.

about

Innovations of Grave Perversity is Eric Terino's third long player, and by any measure is his most expansive and layered work. Taking charge from where his sophomore record left off, the album is a parallel journey through the passage of seasons (winter into spring) and the transition from despondency to the birth of new hope and healing. It is a record about attempting to find light in the wake of trauma and working to reframe one's life in a way that allows for the possibility of joy. 

Written and recorded throughout 2020/2021 amidst the height of a global pandemic, the eight tracks that comprise Terino's third LP started life in his home studio in a New England forest and came to fruition with contributions from musicians based all throughout the world. Cello tracks flown in from Russia, French horns from Italy, harps from the UK, and even a musical saw from Greece. Notably featured on a number of tracks is the distinctive voice and hauntingly beautiful violin of legendary Americana singer/songwriter Jolie Holland. It was as a result of the lockdowns that many new connections were able to be forged remotely and Terino's experience of making this record became a tool to feel connected to other musicians and artists in a time when such camaraderie was greatly needed. 

Lead single "Body Gets Stoned" was written byTerino nearly 15 years ago and features stirring violin and vocals from Jolie Holland, whose contribution allowed for the track to finally feel complete and ready to be properly documented. "'Body Gets Stoned' is sort of my take on a 'Que Sera Sera' (Doris Day's 1956 hit from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'). Basically, it's a Buddhist kind of mentality that all is as it is and will be as it will be. So there's no point infighting upstream. Wtimately the solution to any struggle is in letting the river take us where we need to go, which in my opinion ... is home.” 

Elsewhere, the record explores a wide range of themes such as mental illness, aging, leaving past loves behind, accepting childlessness, and renouncing damnation. All driven by an emotive intimate vocal and delicate near orchestral arrangements. "Whether the subject matter is bereavement ("Invocations"), agoraphobia ("Boulder"), or the experience of coming out as an LGBTQ youth ("A Snowfall at Dusk"), the songs that comprise Innovations of Grave Perversity transform the deeply personal into universal statements on the complexities of human life. 

"I feel more hopeful and open than I've ever felt before. There's something nearly magical that can happen when you're writing. You have to be careful because what you write could manifest itself into reality. So with this record, this was my attempt to shift the narrative of my life from a tragedy to a realm of potential for joy.” 

"A work of strange beauty.” - Patty Waters

credits

released March 11, 2022

All songs written by Eric Terino

Produced, Mixed, and Engineered by Eric Terino
Mastered by Sean Weyers for SWS Recordings

© Eric Terino 2022
℗ Eric Terino 2022

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Perpetual Doom New Hope, Pennsylvania

𓅓 Indie Label & Production Company⁣⁣
Limited Edition Cassettes, Vinyl & Zines⁣⁣
Doomer Apparel 💀⁣
DM for services & collabs. 🎥

contact / help

Contact Perpetual Doom

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Innovations of Grave Perversity, you may also like: