If you’ve ever seen a video before from New Zealand h-e-a-v-y heavies Beastwars (the one for “Empire” from their first album comes to mind, with “Tower of Skulls” following soon after), you know they go all out. Earlier this year, the band released their sophomore outing, Blood Becomes Fire (review here), and the clip they’ve put together for the three-minute “Dune” from the album only highlights how epic the Wellington four-piece can make three minutes sound. Also in this case, look. If the animated style wasn’t enough, nothing pushes “epic” over the top like a giant sloth.

The gritty psychedelic visuals of “Dune” were made by Skyranch.tv with funding from NZ on Air. Beastwars head to Australia for some shows in Melboune next month, and you’ll find the dates in the release included with the video below. Enjoy:

Beastwars, “Dune” official video

Beastwars Release New Video feat. a T-Rex, Giant Sloths…

…a flying motorbike, viking longship, army tanks and a traveler lost deep in time and space. They all make an appearance in this brand new video from New Zealand’s Beastwars.

Director Simon Ward of SKYRANCH says “We approached the video as an animated comic, reminiscent of Heavy Metal magazine or something straight out of a Ralph Bakshi film. We were going for something quite otherworldly and weird with a buzzy time travel story.”

“Dune” is the opening track from the critically acclaimed album Blood Becomes Fire which was released in April. Click here for the clip: http://youtu.be/CIZQHR6-Ngg

Beastwars have just announced more Australian shows this September and an appearance at the Big Day Out festival in Auckland alongside Pearl Jam and Ghost B.C.

Tour dates:
MELBOURNE
Thursday, September 26: The Espy
Friday, September 27: The Tote
Saturday, September 28: The Bendigo Hotel
Sunday, September 29: The Barwon Club – Geelong
AUCKLAND – Big Day Out – Friday, January 17: Western Springs Stadium

Beastwars, Blood Becomes Fire (2013)

Beastwars are not a band who do anything small. From their massive-sounding production, to the epic themes in their songs, to the scale of their artwork, the Wellington, New Zealand, foursome operate in one mode, and that mode is huge. Even in the quiet, brooding moments of their second self-released LP, Blood Becomes Fire, on the title-track for example, or the earlier “Rivermen,” they retain an imposing sensibility, pushing sludge riffs, noise crunch and modern doom atmospherics in songs that — contrary to what one would almost certainly expect unless they encountered Beastwars‘ 2011 self-titled debut (review here) — only once pass the five-minute mark and never wander far from a discernible structure. Pace varies more than mood on the vinyl-ready 39-minute/10-track offering, and Blood Becomes Fire is almost universally aggressive, but as big as they go sonically, Beastwars — vocalist Matt Hyde, guitarist Clayton Anderson, bassist James Woods and drummer Nathan Hickey — don’t give in to metallic chestbeating. As they did on the self-titled, Hyde ‘s vocals convey a persistent drama through a deceptively varied array of clean lines and harsher growls, and that in combination with Anderson‘s riffing, Woods‘ at-the-forefront low end and Hickey‘s plodding stomp is more than enough to get the point across of their dominance. As a unit, they work with vicious efficiency and even more than their first offering, Blood Becomes Fire is an individualized show of their potency and memorable songwriting. It is stylistically consistent with its predecessor, but an all-around more developed collection, and one that’s been met with considerable critical hyperbole and “album of the year”-type praise. That was true of the first record as well, and an accordingly sizable response seems fitting for an outfit so bent on sonic grandiosity, but whatever laurels have been placed on Beastwars’ collective head, they deliver on Blood Becomes Fire a full-length that seems less concerned with exciting critics and more about bashing skulls in the live sphere. Certainly the instrumental and vocal hooks alike speak to that, and if it’s a signal of the band’s affinity for staging their material, it’s only served to make them a tighter, crisper unit.

The album impresses even unto its symmetry. Ten tracks are split easily into two vinyl sides with the three-minute “Dune” leading off at a faster clip, taking a winding verse riff and opening it to a bigger chorus topped with Hyde’s harsh, sometimes Kirk Windsteinian snarling. Woods’ bass does a lot of the work in filling out the opener, but the guitars are still at the fore sonically with the drums and vocals cutting through. Beastwars change the feel between the tracks enough so that “Dune” doesn’t quite hint at everything they have to offer throughout, but it’s an effective start for Blood Becomes Fire all the same and builds momentum that they carry through to the subsequent “Imperium,” the second longest cut at 4:36 and built around a nasty, crushing groove, Anderson and Woods not so much fighting for prominence as uniting at the front to pummel together. Stops in the bridge lead to some double-kick from Hickey, and Hyde maintains an almost indecipherable guttural gnash vocally, rasping out lines in rhythmic time before slipping back into the tonal assault from whence he came. Just before three minutes in, he moves into a jarring, higher-pitched scream that signals the height of the track’s push – Anderson follows soon on guitar and Hyde moves up on bass as well, mounting a swirl that they skillfully take back to the initial groove, Hickey cutting to half-time on the drums to march the way out. A noise rock – that’s not to say AmRep, not knowing if it’s actually an influence or coincidence of sound – bite shows up in “Tower of Skulls,” mostly in Woods’ tone, but also in the cyclical lurch of the riff, though Hyde’s vocals and the midpoint surge of melody give that noise a different context that emphasizes Beastwars’ ability to take something familiar and make it their own. Following an uptempo bridge, they hit the brakes and Anderson layers a lead into the verse riff to serve as a bookending outro, leading to the darker “Realms,” which offers some middle ground between the more impact-minded crushers and the moody side A closer, “Rivermen” to come. More subdued initially in its vocals, feedback and drum thud meter out an underlying threat that comes to bear in an impressive – if short at 3:04 – linear build, Hyde shouting out memorable repetitions based around the line “This is a temple.” So it may be. He brings the instruments with him to a manic wash, the song cutting short to let “Rivermen” start slow.

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Following up the thunder wrought by their 2011 self-titled debut, New Zealand’s Beastwars will release their sophomore outing, Blood Becomes Fire, on April 19. To celebrate the release, the four-piece are hitting the road alongside Unida (the two are also doing a gig with Truckfighters, which is a show I’d very much like to see), and before they get to that, they’ve made Blood Becomes Fire available to pre-order on a special site they put up in the album’s honor. Needless to say for anybody who heard the self-titled (review here), but this is one to look forward to.

Get yourself informed:

BEASTWARS – Blood Becomes Fire – 19 April 2013

In 2011, sludge metallers Beastwars transformed New Zealand’s heavy music scene with their internationally acclaimed, multi-award-nominated debut. On 19 April 2013, the Wellington-based four-piece return with their highly anticipated new album, Blood Becomes Fire.

Abiding by Beastwars’ own steadfast maxim, ‘Obey the Riff’, Blood Becomes Fire features 10 songs that serve witness to the end of days, told through the eyes of a dying traveler from another time.

“It’s a reflection on mortality, death and disease. Sooner or later they come for all of us,” says vocalist Matt Hyde.

“It’s a heavy album, both sonically and lyrically,” says drummer Nathan Hickey, “but what solidifies it are the triumphant ‘fuck yeah’ riffs. To us, this music is like getting psyched up to go into battle. You could be at war with yourself, or someone else.”

Following a successful collaboration on Beastwars’ debut, Blood Becomes Fire was co-produced, recorded and mixed by Dale Cotton (HDU, Die! Die! Die!), mastered in California by John Golden (Neurosis, Swans, High on Fire), and features the art of Weta Workshop’s award-winning Nick Keller—whose mind-melting gatefold oil paintings depict a twisted world inspired by the aural artillery within.

Streaming audio samples and limited edition pre-order merch bundles of Blood Becomes Fire are available now at www.bloodbecomesfire.com. These include 100 gold and red LPs with gatefold art, which come with three special edition custom Beastwars guitar picks.

Following the release of Blood Becomes Fire, Beastwars will tour Australia and New Zealand supporting John Garcia’s post-Kyuss band, Unida, before headlining their own shows in May.

Tour Dates:
Auckland Saturday April 20th, Real Groovy Records instore performance (4pm)
Auckland Friday May 3rd, The Kings Arms with Unida
Wellington Saturday May 4th, Bodega with Unida
Sydney Friday May 10th, The Manning Bar with Unida and Truckfighters
Melbourne Sunday 12th, The Hi Fi with Unida

More dates to be announced.

Blood Becomes Fire Tracklisting
1. Dune
2. Imperium
3. Tower of Skulls
4. Realms
5. Rivermen
6. Caul of Time
7. Ruins
8. Blood Becomes Fire
9. Shadow King
10. The Sleeper

Beastwars
Clayton Anderson – Guitar
Nathan Hickey – Drums
Matt Hyde – Vocals
James Woods – Bass

http://www.facebook.com/beastwars666
http://www.beastwars.bandcamp.com

Burlier than thou New Zealand outfit Beastwars have just unveiled “The Sleeper,” the B-side to their new single, “Tower of Skulls.” They’ll reportedly have a video for the single in the next few weeks, and if you’ll recall the clip they did for “Empire” from their self-titled full-length (review here), that’s undoubtedly something to look forward to, but in the meantime, “The Sleeper” hits public consciousness via a YouTube stream that it’s my pleasure to share with you.

The song is pretty subdued for the most part, but it’s got some underlying nastiness to it that surfaces late, all gritting teeth and whatnot and rife with tension. Check it out below, followed by the latest update from the band via their Thee Facebooks, and enjoy:

The Sleeper is the B-side to a limited edition glow in the dark 7″ vinyl that we’re releasing to coincide with our tour next month. The A-side is the much heavier track Tower of Skulls which will be released with a video in the coming weeks.