Empire State Bastard have shared a new single called ‘The Looming’ – listen to it below.
The song will serve as the closing track on the group’s debut album ‘Rivers Of Heresy’, which is due for release on September 1 (pre-order/pre-save here).
Following on from the cuts ‘Harvest’ and ‘Stutter’, the latest offering from ESB – the side-project of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, and their touring guitarist Mike Vennart (Oceansize) – strikes an apocalyptic tone, building in intensity over its almost-seven-minute duration.
“They can’t control you/ They can’t control you,” Neil screams midway through over brutal, crunching guitars. “Fuck what they told you/ Fuck what they told you/ Let’s take it over/ Something to live for/ Something to live for.”
At the end of the fuzz rock-inspired single, Neil repeats a sinister warning of impending doom from the opening verse: “I’ll never grow old in a graveyard/ Do any little thing that’s not too hard/ The devastation’s looming like Jesus, just like Jesus/ What’s it gonna take to believe us?”
In a brief statement, Empire State Bastard said: “The end is nigh! The end is looming! Fuck what they told ya!”
Check out the official lyric video for ‘The Looming’ below.
Speaking to NME earlier this year, Neil said that ESB were “going for extremity at all costs” while embarking on what he described as a “hideously horrific musical journey”.
“Because we play together in Biffy, there’s no point in us doing another project that doesn’t feel miles apart,” he explained. “That’s a pet hate of mine, when people leave their full-time band to do another thing and it’s just a slightly different version of what they’re doing anyway. What’s the fucking point?”
As for the forthcoming ‘Rivers Of Heresy’ on the whole, Neil told NME: “I’ve put all of my nihilism and misanthropy into this record. The anger needs to be real.
“When the pandemic happened, there was so much to be angry about over that period. Even since then, I keep having this optimistic point of view that there’s going to be a right sharp turn of goodness and growth and everyone’s going to see the light.”
He continued: “I just needed to unleash something. This isn’t a political band, but there’s so much to be fucking angry about. You see the people running the country who just don’t give a shit, you see local neighbourhoods falling apart, and maybe I’ve connected to my hometown since I stopped touring so intensely after the pandemic. Maybe I feel more of a responsibility to my community.”
The metal duo also talked about recruiting Slayer‘s Dave Lombardo as their drummer. “Mike said, ‘We need someone who can play like Dave Lombardo’,” Neil recalled. “We spoke for about two weeks and then just one day during the pandemic we were like, ‘Shall we just fucking get Dave Lombardo’s address and email him?’
“Within 24 hours he got back and was like, ‘This is fucking great – what are you thinking?’ We’d never even met him, but ended up with this on-the-phone relationship for about a year or so.”
You can watch the full In Conversation video interview above.
Empire State Bastard recently performed at Glastonbury 2023 before playing at 2000 Trees earlier this month. See the band’s upcoming live dates below.
AUGUST
05 – Wacken Open Air, Germany
17 – ArcTanGent, UK
SEPTEMBER
17 – Riot Fest, USA
20 – Le Poisson Rouge (guests to Chat Pile), New York, USA
