Formation and early history Circle of Dead Children formed after Joe Horvath and Jason Andrews previous band, .blackwel. had broken up. They joined with John Kubacka, David Good and Jon Miciolek who had been playing in various punk bands at the time. Following their tenth practice they recorded and self-financed their first and only demo cassette, which was self-titled. There were one-hundred copies made for distribution, and it subsequently sold out at their first two live shows. The demo contained four tracks and had a total playing time of just 5:45. The band focused on playing around the Pittsburgh area for its first couple years of existence. Each of the live concerts during the first couple of years had seen vocalist, Joe Horvath, commit to self-battery and bloodshed, adding to the shock value. Circle of Dead Children had written twelve new songs, but had never recorded them. The band again found themselves in an extended hiatus while they looked for a new drummer. Matt Francis, from
Binghamton, New York, was brought into the band in 2007 and eventually moved to Pittsburgh to be closer in 2008. In 2009, the band recorded the music for the twelve songs they had previously written plus three additional new songs at Mr. Smalls Studio, in Pittsburgh, PA. Due to serious illness and other setbacks, Joe Horvath did not record his vocals for the album until several months later. 'Psalm of the Grand Destroyer' was mastered and produced by
Scott Hull at Visceral Sound, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and released by Willowtip Records in the Americas and
Candlelight Records for Europe and Asia in June 2010. Willowtip Records also released a limited-edition vinyl LP pressing of 500 copies, with 250 being on gold splattered wax and 250 on red wax. It featured alternate, but complementary, artwork done by Alex Eckman-Lawn. This release features fifteen tracks and has a total playing time of 31:47. == Style ==