Pitchfork Media have just published an extensive interview with HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE band leader John Cobbett about several subjects, the main one of course being the impending release of the upcoming two new full-lengths: Fields and Church Of Broken Glass.

About the idea of releasing two albums together, joined at the spine, Cobbett tells Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork Media: “We were talking specifically about putting our next LP out on vinyl. From there it wasn’t much of a jump to make it a double LP. With that in mind we thought in terms of that format: Side 1, Side 2 etc. With vinyl you get about 20 minutes per side before you start losing audio quality, so you have to arrange the flow of the album to accommodate that.”

Cobbett continues: “We’d joked about doing ‘a split with ourselves’ in the past, but in this situation it made sense. I always thought it would be cool to make two distinct albums joined at the spine. So all these ideas pointed in the same direction and it was clear what had to be done.”

“As for other double LPs that might have inspired this idea, I can only cite The Wall by Pink Floyd. I’ve always wanted to attempt something on that scale. In fact The August Engine was our first attempt to make an album that big, but it didn’t work out for various reasons.”

Pitchfork: Was the decision at all motivated by the current state of music and "the industry"? I mean, hearkening back to a different time in metal history…

“Mostly the motivation comes from being a fan first,” Cobbett continues. “As a fan, I think it’s a cool idea for a release and I’d probably want it in my record collection. Maybe there’s a defiant aspect to it, but it’s not that I have anything against mp3s or downloading. The way it’s going now, you have a group of fans that want the physical artifact – the record or CD – in their hands. The release is for them. The songs are for everyone, and let’s face it, they are free for the majority of listeners whether we like it or not. ‘The industry’ is in ruins. Our release strategy was more of a reaction to that than a statement about it. It’s a self-financed, self-produced, DIY album, which is pretty much the only way we’ve ever done anything, and probably the only way left at this point.”

To read the complete interview click here.

Fields and Church Of Broken Glass are set for an official Oct 30th release date via Profound Lore Records. Expect these releases to be on sale exclusively through the Profound Lore website prior to the official release date.

Tracklisting for Fields goes as follows: ‘Agriculture’, ‘Fields’, ‘Motorcade’, ‘Haruspices’, ‘Rats Assembly’, ‘Always Looking Down’, ‘Too Soon’.

Tracklisting for Church Of Broken Glass goes as follows: ‘Almost (Left Without You)’, ‘Butchertown’, ‘The Gulls’, ‘Church Of Broken Glass’, ‘Train’.