Yakuza Begin Recording New Album; Back Catalog Being Reissued
Chicago experimentalist-in-form metallers Yakuza always seemed to suffer the fate of those whose sound lie between styles. They reaped plenty of critical praise each time out, but as it goes with bands who challenge convention one way or another, their songs’ willfully jarring turns and shifting atmospheres set themselves beyond kneejerk accessibility and, well, there you go. By the time their next record comes out, it will have been 10 years since Beyul (review here) was issued through Profound Lore, and that album, along with 2002’s Way of the Dead — imagine this band on Century Media for a minute; it was a different age — and presumably the rest of their catalog, will be reissued through War Crime Recordings, which is the label Yakuza frontman/saxophonist Bruce Lamont runs alongside Sanford Parker, who’s also producing the new Yakuza album. Keeping it all in the family, as it were.
Of course, Lamont has hardly been idle in the last decade. In addition to founding War Crime — who were also kind enough to publish a collection of short stories by yours truly in 2016, thereby earning eternal gratitude — and taking part in Corrections House again alongside Parker and members of Neurosis and Eyehategod, he’s released solo work and an album with Bloodiest, and so on. Last year, he took part in a quarantine-era socially-distant cover of Trouble‘s “The Tempter” (posted here) with Parker and members of Snow Burial and Pelican. So yeah, dude gets around.
Looking forward to this though. Should be like a coming home, oddly shaped as that home may be.
From the PR wire:
YAKUZA To Begin Recording First New Studio Album In Ten Years; Back Catalog To See Reissue On Vinyl Via War Crime Recordings!
Chicago’s YAKUZA will begin recording their long-awaited, as-yet-untitled new studio album!
The band will enter Palisades Studio with engineer Sanford Parker (Yob, Voivod) later this month. The recording will be completed and mixed at Parker’s own Hypercube Studios. Set for worldwide release in the Spring of 2022, the record follows their critically lauded Beyul full-length (2012) and marks YAUKZA’s first official studio output in ten years!
Offers vocalist/saxophonist Bruce Lamont, “Ten years! You would think that a bunch has changed, Well, some has and some hasn’t. The shronky, heavy, hairpin tempo shifts are still there, now add more bottom end thanks to current bassist Jerome Marshall. This new batch of tunes is a nice mix of weird and riffy and we couldn’t be happier with how everything has come together.”
Adds bassist Jerome Marshall, “It’s a return to form from the origins of where the band began. A return to post-metal, avant-garde jazz-influenced heavy chaos with the structural balance of intrinsic order.”
The record will be released in North America via Lamont and Parker’s joint imprint, War Crime Recordings, with Svart Recordings handling Europe and beyond.
In related news, War Crime Recordings will reissue the YAKUZA back catalog on a limited-edition LP throughout the coming months. First up is 2012’s Beyul which has never before been available on vinyl.
Comments Lamont, “We over at War Crime Recordings have had a plan for a number of years to reissue all the YAKUZA LPs that haven’t seen the light day and then reissue the ones that have. Beyul was an obvious first choice. Originally released back in 2012 through Profound Lore, this reissue is a single LP gatefold edition. The mastering for the LP was done back in 2012 by Colin Jordon and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Next up…Way Of The Dead!”
Limited to 200 copies on translucent brown vinyl, order Beyul at THIS LOCATION: https://yazkua.bandcamp.com/album/beyul
YAKUZA:
James Staffel – drums
Matt Mcclelland – guitar, vocals
Jerome Marshall – bass, vocals
Bruce Lamont – vocals, saxophones
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http://warcrimerecordings.bandcamp.com
