We’re pleased to bring you the premiere of No Restraint’s new EP Growth (listen below), which has been officially released through Bitter Melody Records (US) and Bound By Modern Age Records (Europe). You can purchase the EP here: North America | Europe

No Restraints vocalist Warren Evans did a track by track breakdown of the album. You can read it below as you stream the EP.

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TRACK BY TRACK

Growth

Growth is a song that in a way represents the record as a whole, because most of the songs are about the idea of growing or the idea of finding yourself and the ways you get there. At the same time, some of the songs are about views that you have because of self-growth. More specifically though, this song is about someone I became friends with at a young age that I really believed in, and I watched them become someone I was proud of. Over time I realized that I overlooked the negative and focused on the positive, and when it was all said and done, I was looking at them as the person I wanted them to be and not who they really were. Letting go of a friend or disconnecting yourself from someone is very hard, and one of the worst parts of your own development and growth. Sadly, shedding those people who represent the things you can not respect is an essential part.

Separation

This is a song that is less direct than some No Restraint songs that talk about veganism, but that’s because the issues really are bigger than just a diet. It’s important to focus on more than just the unnecessary suffering of animals, and also on how unsustainable and damaging the system really is. If we don’t take notice, and pay attention to what we support, eventually the earth will have nothing left to give. In the song, there is a line that says “What is left as a result of an unsustainable cycle?” – this line to me mean that if we don’t shake the habits we were born with, if we don’t support things that break said cycle, we will ultimately be the end of not just animals, but humans.

Birth

I wrote this song about my damaged relationship with my only sibling who is only 3 years older than me. He and I were extremely close for most of our young lives, but at a certain point he turned to drugs and went down a very dark path. He did irreparable damage to my family, and drove away every valuable relationship he ever had. I saw it, I ran away from it, but at a certain point I decided I should make an effort to be there for him. Sadly, that experience proved to me that sometimes people can’t be saved or even helped. Family is more than being born or someone or in connection to someone. The belief in unconditional love will often times break you. Love and care for those who would do the same for you, not just the ones you feel obligated to.

Cages

Even in a time where we know more than ever about factory farming, there is no shortage of people who just don’t believe it or simply don’t care. Animals are bred to suffer, treated like non-feeling machines who only exist as food for our plates. In the same way that some people say they could never kill a living thing themselves, they see no correlation between that inability to be the one causing the pain, and the desire to end that pain. Acknowledging the error in animals being raped and tortured for my food was one of the key points of growth in my life, and my frustration with the denial of that has shaped a lot of who I am. “Cages” is a song where I talk about our blame in this process.

Grasping

Grasping is a song I wrote out of my frustration with the current President and his entire administration, along with some of the ideas we are seeing come back to light that many of us thought were gone. Most of the things happening in this country directly damage the people who are supporting it, because they are too ignorant to look at facts over bias. There are some extremely broken ideas that we are seeing gain momentum, and with that comes violence, hatred, and pain. We are equally responsible if we don’t take a step back and see our own faults, and hopefully spread ideas that can help others find common ground.

About the band:

No Restraint (Jacksonville, FL) are back with their third EP, titled Growth. This vegan powerhouse previously released a split with Down In It and a standalone EP, The Branches of Suffering, through Bitter Melody Records. They took their time writing this third EP and have written their best songs to date. This EP has 5 new songs tackling a range of issues.

Taking influences from Earth Crisis, Harvest, and Turmoil, they have crafted a heavy hitting EP, full of crushing riffs. Bitter Melody and BBMA are releasing this EP on 7” vinyl, pressed on limited yellow with red splatter vinyl, and black vinyl. Bitter Melody Records is handling the U.S. side of the release and Bound By Modern Age will be handling the European side. The official release is today for the vinyl and a collection CD of all three EPs and both are shipping now.

Connect with the band on Facebook.