North Carolina’s We Follow the Earth will release their third full-length, Foamdrinker, on May 12. The latest single, “Aeons,” is premiering on the player below. I haven’t heard the full outing yet, but “Aeons” is the second song to come from it and it runs in immediate contrast to the first, which was later cut “Sirens.” That song is a nine-minute atmosludge nodder, like Isis and Crowbar agreeing on a thing, with a long quiet break and as chugged-out a finish as one would hope. “Aeons” is shorter at just under four minutes, faster, more straightforwardly structured, and more immediate.

It’s a rocker, in other words. There’s less post-metal to it but the drums keep a sense of atmosphere, distant but with the snare cutting through and what might be layered-in percussion complementing tom fills. In the past, We Follow the Earth have tapped into a swath of influences from YOB to Electric Wizard to the raw lumber of their 2023 debut, Lightbearer, but “Aeons” and “Sirens” feel more purposeful in what they’re doing and not so much in the sense of they were written and forced to be a thing but that We Follow the Earth seem to have a sense of where the song is going even when they want to keep the listener on their toes. “Aeons” has a triplet-gallop crescendo that gives way to a quick speedup, and the last push ends with one more shout to emphasize the point.

This is probably the part where I might otherwise tell you how these two apparent extremes of approach mesh in context with teh rest of what surrounds them on the album. Fine, except I haven’t heard the album, so I don’t know. That’s right, folks, it’s a teaser — on the internet. Can you believe it? The fact is neither of We Follow the Earth‘s previous LPs lead one to believe these are the limits of their range at this stage, so I won’t pretend like all the other songs have to operate in a place between these two, because I think that’s probably not the case. Even just on these singles, the band are more nuanced than that for how the use production alone, never mind the actual shape of the tracks, stylistic shifts, and so on.

Below, the PR wire offers some background on the album concept and the credits for its making. If you’re curious to hear “Sirens” after checking out the “Foamdrinker” premiere, that video and audio are both down by the links near the bottom. Wherever you’re headed next, safe travels, thanks for reading, and please enjoy:

We Follow the Earth, “Aeons” track premiere

We Follow the Earth is a sludgy doom band that will occasionally lean into a post metal sound. Located in Winston Salem, North Carolina, the core of their sound is built on slow, crushing riffs, ever present soul shaking bass, and aggressive, strained screams. Started as a solo project for Matthew Crotts, with his brother, Robert Crotts, offering to write the concept story and lyrics for the debut album “Lightbearer” in 2023. Shortly after releasing the debut album, writing started for the 2nd concept album “Extinct”, which was recorded/engineered by Jamie King and released in March 2024.

This new album, “Foamdrinker”, takes the listener on a journey through a world that is, for unknown reasons, stuck in a perpetual winter. Facing extinction, our characters are willing to go to any lengths to survive, but dangers beyond the ice lurk in the depths of the ocean and within ourselves. The struggle to overcome these challenges that we are presented with, both the external and the internal superstitions about how we think the world should work from the crux of this story. How we balance selfless acts against selfish ones can save or doom the world.

Tracklisting:
1. Foamdrinker
2. Maelstrom
3. Aeons
4. Black Lamp
5. On Violent Waves
6. Sirens
7. The Still Blue
8. Weight of the Stars

Album credits:
Robert Crotts – Story/Lyric writer
Engineered by Jacob Beeson
Mastered by Esben Willems (Studio Berserk)

We Follow the Earth:
Matthew Crotts – Vocals, guitar
Josh Burton – Guitar
Jason “Buddha” Myers – Bass
Matthew Pickard – Drums

We Follow the Earth, “Sirens” official video

We Follow the Earth, Foamdrinker (2026)

We Follow the Earth on Bandcamp

We Follow the Earth on Instagram

We Follow the Earth on Facebook