I black/thrasher statunitensi Goatwhore hanno rivelato alcuni dettagli sul nuovo album Vengeful Ascension, in uscita il 23 giugno per Metal Blade Records. Il settimo album della band è stato registrato su nastro da Jarret Pritchard (1349, Gruesome) presso l’Earth Analog di Tolono, Illinois, in seguito mixato da Chris Common (Tribulation, Pelican) e masterizzato da Maor Applebaum (Faith No More, Halford, Today Is The Day).
Così ha commentato il frontman Ben Falgoust:
“Working with Rutan was awesome, we did some great records with him. But you come to a point where you’re like, ‘All right. Let’s try something new.’ It was part of trying to remove ourselves from a comfort zone and a risk thing we needed to take. Plus, we really wanted to hit the essence of where we are live and what better way to harness that than by having our live sound guy involved. Jarrett is knowledgeable with the studio stuff. He also knows how we sound coming out of a PA and we really wanted to get closer to that.“
“Each song is a representation of Goatwhore. From day one until now. It really shows our evolution as a band. I don’t think that this band has reached its peak yet. I mean, I think we’re closer now than ever but we’re still growing; we’re still evolving.“
Così invece Falgoust descrive le tematiche dell’album, che vertono su atmosfere luciferine sin dal titolo:
“There’s that whole idea of Lucifer being the anti-hero, He’s cast out from this place in Heaven to the depths of nothing. He keeps trying to ascend to the top again but no matter what, there’s always this significant force trying to destroy him at any point and banish him back to Hell. If you look at it from an everyday aspect in life, it’s the idea of people, hitting the bottom of the barrel or you know, things just aren’t going right in life… emotion plays a huge part in how people react. Whether it’s based on love or hatred or sadness or whatever, there’s always an aspect of emotion that drives people to an extent. So the whole idea of a Vengeful Ascension is built on being at the bottom, working your way to the top, and realizing along the way that there are other facets to the journey aside from just pure retribution. Within negativity there can exist a positive angle as well.“
Sul sito internet di Metal Blade, oltre a poter effettuare il pre-order dell’album, è possibile ascoltarne in anteprima la title-track, il cui videoclip verrà pubblicato nei prossimi giorni.
Di seguito tracklist e artwork:
1. Forsaken
2. Under The Flesh, Into The Soul
3. Vengeful Ascension
4. Chaos Arcane
5. Where The Sun Is Silent
6. Drowned In Grim Rebirth
7. Abandon Indoctrination
8. Mankind Will Have No Mercy
9. Decayed Omen Reborn
10. Those Who Denied God’s Will
