Empire State Bastard have released a new single The Looming.
The latest glimpse of their forthcoming debut album Rivers of Heresy (out September 1st via Roadrunner Records), The Looming. sees the heavy supergroup descend further into the darkness, dishing up an oppressive slow crush in which Mike Vennart’s grinding, maximum fuzz stoner rock riffs take on a hypnotic intensity as the track unfolds. The apocalyptic tone becomes more sinister as Simon Neil layers feral vocals with guttural death metal growls.
The Looming follows previous singles Harvest and Stutter in solidifying the soundscape of one of the most anticipated collaborations in recent memory. A meeting of musical modes, Empire State Bastard are fronted by Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil, with Slayer/Testament/Mr. Bungle/Fantomas drummer Dave Lombardo, Biffy's live guitarist and solo artist Mike Vennart and Naomi Macleod of Bitch Falcon who join forces to create a unique heavy beast.
The band’s debut album, Rivers of Heresy, adventurously probes almost every dark crevice imaginable from the myriad sounds of metal and genre-adjacent extremity. Their terrifying tourist trail visits slamming hardcore in the vein of Siege; frenetic thrash in Slayer’s ballpark; the claustrophobic sludge of Melvins; the freeform vocal dexterity of Mike Patton; and the gargantuan stoner riffs of Sleep. It’s a sound with roots inspired by metal’s forefathers, but more deeply influenced by the weirder, darker and unconventional leftfield twists that the genre has since voyaged into.
Rivers of Heresy is available to pre-order in a number of variants at Maniacs now.
Listen to Empire State Bastard
