Birth of Violence

Birth of Violence is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe. Announced on June 18, 2019,^[17] the first single, "The Mother Road", was released the same day.^[18] The second single, "American Darkness", was released on July 17.^[19]

Birth of Violence
Physical cover. Digital editions exclude Wolfe's name.
Studio album by Chelsea Wolfe
Released	September 13, 2019[1]
Genre	Folk
Length	43:46
Label	Sargent House[2]
Chelsea Wolfe chronology
Hiss Spun (2017) Birth of Violence (2019) Bloodmoon: I (2021)
Singles from Birth of Violence
"The Mother Road" Released: June 18, 2019[3] "American Darkness" Released: July 17, 2019[4] "Deranged For Rock and Roll" Released: September 5, 2019[5] "Highway" Released: March 4, 2020[6]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.8/10[7]
Metacritic	81/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The A.V. Club	B-[10]
Austin Chronicle	[11]
Consequence of Sound	B+[12]
Exclaim!	8/10[13]
Paste	9/10[14]
Sputnikmusic	4.1/5[15]
Under the Radar	7.5/10[16]

The album was written and recorded in seclusion at her home in Northern California, with Wolfe describing it as having more of a "folk leaning sound" in an effort to return to her folk roots. It was released by Sargent House on September 13, 2019.^[20][21]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Gigwise	Top 51 Albums of 2019	22	[22]
Kerrang!	Top 50 Albums of 2019	21	[23]
Revolver	Top 25 Albums of 2019	13	[24]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Mother Road"	4:20
2.	"American Darkness"	4:48
3.	"Birth of Violence"	4:20
4.	"Deranged for Rock & Roll"	3:31
5.	"Be All Things"	4:20
6.	"Erde"	3:31
7.	"When Anger Turns to Honey"	3:09
8.	"Dirt Universe"	4:36
9.	"Little Grave"	3:22
10.	"Preface to a Dream Play"	3:52
11.	"Highway"	2:50
12.	"The Storm"	1:07
Total length:		43:46

All tracks are written by Chelsea Wolfe^[25][26]

Japan bonus track^[27][28]

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Night of the Vampire (Roky Erickson cover)"	2:50
Total length:		46:45

Personnel

Credits adapted from Discogs.^[29]

• Chelsea Wolfe - vocals, guitar, production
• Ben Chisholm - guitar, bass guitar, synthesizers, piano, mandolin, production, mixing
• Jess Gowrie - drums (tracks 1, 2, 4-7, 9)
• Ezra Buchla - viola (tracks 1, 2, 5, 10)
• Heba Kadry - mastering
• John Crawford - art direction, photography
• Nona Limmen - cover
• Cathy Pellow - management

Charts

Chart (2019)	Peak position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA)[30]	18
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31]	162
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32]	84
Scottish Albums (OCC)[33]	77
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[34]	60
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[35]	10
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[36]	5