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A Storm of Light to Release Anthroscene Oct. 5; Post New Song “Slow Motion Apocalypse”

a storm of light

New York’s A Storm of Light have set an Oct. 5 release date for their first album in a half-decade, Anthroscene. You would not necessarily call it a hopeful sound they’ve conjured on their fifth outing, and among the battery of influences that project-spearhead/vocalist/guitarist/etc.-ist/graphic-designer-extraordinaire Josh Graham namechecks in his comments below, I can definitely hear Killing Joke in opener “Prime Time,” the lyrics to which are a meditation on the self-as-celebrity social media climate and hypersaturation of the information climate in which we reside. Second cut “Blackout” asks the question in as plain language as possible: “What the fuck is wrong with us?” They’re streaming “Slow Motion Apocalypse” now, which is a fair-enough summary of the perspective as regards social commentary.

Personally, I’d say we were screwed from the moment it was decided “all men created equal” was a limited standard, but hindsight’s 20/20 and multiculturalism is still a nice idea. In the meantime, we’ll grit and grind and chip our teeth as nationalism pulls off its hey-we’re-definitely-not-fascist mask and the boots of empire trod the skulls of those who sewed them together while we all bathe in incel jizz go deaf from the volume of their shouts of blind hatred formerly disguised as pride for something they have no right to feel prideful for the first place and wait for the next flood or wildfire or both to wipe the slate clean for the next round of fucking scumbags. Make a joyful noise, assholes.

But yeah, the album. You kind of lose me quoting a dude who got outed for jacking off under his desk and who was neither that smart nor that funny to start with, but I’ll hardly disagree shit feels dire, so the point stands. If you need me, I’ll be watching PBS Newshour and crying awake in the middle of the night for no reason. No reason at all.

The album’s Blade Runner-reminiscent cover art — of course by Graham himself — and details came down the PR wire, along with the aforementioned track:

a storm of light anthroscene

STORM OF LIGHT ANNOUNCE DETAILS OF THEIR NEW ALBUM AND SHARE THE AUDIO FOR NEW ALBUM TRACK ‘SLOW MOTION APOCALYPSE’

PRE-ORDERS AT CONSOULING SOUNDS ARE NOW LIVE FOR CD & VINYL

A Storm of Light return with a new record. Five years after their last studio album (Nation To Flames, Southern Lord), Josh Graham and his companions Chris Common, Dan Hawkins and Domenic Seita have completed their fifth full length Anthroscene, to be released via Consouling Sounds (EU and UK), Translation Loss (US) and Daymare (JP) on 5th October.

Josh Graham explains the different mood on this record; “Anthroscene ignores genre and freely combines a lot our our early influences. Christian Death, The Cure, Discharge, Lard, Fugazi, Big Black, Ministry, Pailhead, Melvins, Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, NIN, Tool, etc. Where Nations to Flames was a very a focused sonic assault, this record has more time to breathe, yet still keeps the intensity intact. We allowed the songs to venture into new territory and push our personal boundaries. It’s heavy and intense, but always focuses on interwoven melodies, song structure and dynamic. Bringing Dan Hawkins (old friend and high school bandmate) on second guitar and keyboards, has further expanded the album’s palette”.

Lyrically the songs are an honest, brutal and emotional response to what is happening all around us: the disaster of American politics, racism, greed, climate change, climate change denial, nationalism, war, refugees, and how technology is actively changing us as human beings.

Josh continues… ”The current events happening across the planet right now are very overwhelming. It’s difficult not to feel very hopeless at times. This record is a big cathartic release… not offering much in the way of fixes, but serving more as a surreal document of our current times.“

With everyone being spread out across the US, the band worked separately and shared files online. From there Josh would put together modified ideas that bridged the different styles, getting a similar result to rehearsing in a room together: “This writing process is a good example of how technology is changing the way we work and interact with each other. In some ways it is great…this would have been almost impossible even ten years ago. In other ways it feels like human contact is being replaced by screen-contact. At times I feel like I am anchored to, and becoming one with the computer. Between music, my design work, composing, music videos, concert visuals, etc etc, it’s all in the computer. No escape. In the background is social media and streaming news, etc. Louis CK said something like — we watch all of these atrocities regularly on little streaming videos, and before that comes on, we see some mundane commercial, like it’s our penance for getting to watch all of this from the comforts of our home. This article was also an influence to some of the lyrics, along the same lines”.

TRACK LISTING:
1 Prime Time
2 Blackout
3 Short Term Feedback
4 Life Will Be Violent
5 Slow Motion Apocalypse
6 Dim
7 Laser Fire Forget
8 Rosebud

A STORM OF LIGHT LIVE WITH MONO
01/10 – UK Bristol, The Fleece
02/10 – UK Norwich, Arts Centre
03/10 – UK Glasgow, Classic Grand
04/10 – UK Newcastle, The Cluny
05/10 – UK Leeds, Left Bank
06/10 – BE Ghent, De Central
07/10 – NL Utrecht, Tivoli De Helling
08/10 – DE Bremen, Tower
09/10 – DE Dresden, Beatpol
10/10 – DE Wiesbaden, Schlacthof
11/10 – CH Aarau, Kiff
12/10 – FR Lyon, CCO
13/10 – ES Barcelona, AMFest
14/10 – FR Toulouse, Le Rex
15/10 – FR Bordeaux, Iboat
16/10 – FR Orleans, Astrolabe
17/10 – NL Heerlen, Nieuwe Nor
18/10 – DE Oberhausen, Drucklufthaus
19/10 – NL Leeuwarden, Into The Void
20/10 – GR Athens, Fuzz Club
22/10 – RU Moscow, Zil
23/10 – RU St. Petersburg, Zal

https://www.facebook.com/astormoflight
https://astormoflight.com/
https://astormoflightsl.bandcamp.com/
https://consouling.be/
https://www.translationloss.com/

A Storm of Light, “Slow Motion Apocalypse”

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