Down IV – Part I

After Over the Under in 2007 the band decided against another ordinary album and chose to put out four EPs in sequence instead. This is the first of them, released on 18 September 2012 by Down Records and Independent Label Group. Recording had begun in October 2011, and Anselmo said at the time that planning four records that far ahead would be too pretentious, so they simply went with what they felt as they went. It was made at Anselmo's home studio, Nodferatu's Lair, and produced by Michael Thompson with the band. Pat Bruders, who had joined on bass in 2011, plays on a Down record here for the first time. The advance song "Witchtripper" went up on 26 July and reached iTunes on the 31st. The closing "Misfortune Teller" ends at 7:05; after a minute and a half of silence an untitled hidden track begins, and the 9:05 printed on the sleeve covers both. The EP reached number 35 on the Billboard 200 and number 57 in Britain. No Japanese pressing was made. Warner Music Japan and Roadrunner put the import on sale here from 6 October 2012 and added a QR code to it, so that a buyer of the import could still download a PDF card carrying the Japanese notes and the lyric translations. The running order here is the original release's as printed.