VIA PRESS RELEASE | Frontier Records and Cult Epics announced today that iconic American Goth band Christian Death’s landmark debut album Only Theatre of Pain is set for a 40th anniversary reissue in January 2022 featuring an oversized hardcover book by famed Los Angeles punk rock photographer Edward Colver from Cult Epics books. In honor of Only Theatre of Pain’s 40th anniversary, Lisa Fancher, founder of Frontier Records, created an exclusive, double-vinyl gatefold Only Theatre of Pain album including a separate disc of digitally remastered demos and outtakes, and a bonus photo poster, for the upcoming box set.
This 40th Anniversary Edition is the only book authorized by the estate of founding member Rozz Williams and founding band members Rikk Agnew, James McGearty, and George Belanger. The oversized 12” x 12” book features rare and never-before-seen photos as well as new interviews with Colver and the surviving Christian Death band members. During this time, Edward Colver befriended the band and followed them around in late 1981 and early 1982 at more than a dozen concerts as well as photo shoots in Rozz Williams’ family home (used on the back cover of Only Theatre of Pain) and a session of now famous images at a cemetery in Pomona.
“Finally, fans of the real Christian Death will know how closely I worked with them and get to see a lot of the photographs that I shot during that time,” said photographer Edward Colver.
Christian Death was formed by Rozz Williams in Los Angeles, California in 1979. Williams was eventually joined by guitarist Rikk Agnew of Adolescents, James McGearty on bass guitar, and George Belanger on drums. It was this Christian Death line-up that was responsible for recording the band’s most iconic 1982 debut, widely agreed to be the #1 American goth album of all time.
Nico B, Cult Epics founder and friend of Rozz Williams, edited an oversized (12″ x 12”) hardcover book of Edward’s photos capturing those rare and never-before-seen moments, as well as the story of early Christian Death as told by Edward Colver, surviving band members, Frontier Records’ Lisa Fancher, and others through new, exclusive interviews. The suggested retail price (SMRP) is $140 USD and only available directly from Cult Epics (www.cultepics.com) and Frontier Records (frontierrecords.bandcamp.com/music.)
ABOUT EDWARD COLVER | Edward Colver is an American photographer best known for his early punk rock photographs. Colver not only created a visual document of the birth of the hardcore punk in suburban Southern California from late 1978 to mid-1984, but also greatly helped to define the photography style and graphic identity of American hardcore. Edward was in the right place at the right time, and with the right attitude, but he was not merely a witness in the eye of the storm—he was a living part of that big picture, and his early photographs are the most authentic portrait of the Southern California hardcore punk scene as it first exploded.
Track Listing:
Stage One
1. Cavity – First Communion
2. Figurative Theatre
3. Burnt Offerings
4. Mysterium Iniquitatis
5. Dream For Mother
Stage Two
1. Stairs – Uncertain Journey
2. Spiritual Cramp
3. Romeo’s Distress
4. Resurrection – Sixth Communion
5. Prayer
Stage Three
1. Dogs
2. Romeo’s Distress (Demo)
3. Deathwish (Demo)
4. Desperate Hell (Demo)
5. Spiritual Cramp (Demo)
6. Cavity – First Communion (Demo)
Stage Four
1. Sleepwalk (1982 Frontier Demo)
2. Invocation (1982 Frontier Demo)
3. Cavity – First Communion (Alternate Version)
4. Lord’s Prayer (Alternate Version)
