Brutal Scottish groove metallers, Hammer, have just dropped their latest single, “Basilisk,” accompanied by an official music video. The track appears on their upcoming new album, Trapped, duefor self-release on August 1st. Head into the article below to catch the new video and find out more about Hammer.
Stream “Basilisk” here: https://lnk.to/BASILISK
Pre-order Trapped here: https://hammertheband.bandcamp.com/album/trapped
“There’s a thought experiment called Roko’s Basilisk and essentially, it’s about an AI in the future that would punish anyone in existence who didn’t dedicate themselves in some way to making that AI a reality. I just thought let’s write a song from the perspective of someone who is aware of that situation – trapped by the design of the Basilisk and has to create it to save themselves, but at the same time creating something that’s going to punish 90% of the globe.” – Hammer
If creating the perfect band is all based on chemistry, mutual understanding and sharing common goals – then Scottish extremists Hammer are the epitome of this ideal. Hailing from the small provincial Midlothian town of Penicuik – less than 10 miles south of Scotland’s capital city Edinburgh – the quintet have fast become one of the most talked about bands in the Scottish metal scene.
“I think there’s like 20,000 people in Penicuik and when we were growing up there was nothing to do – there’s a Gregg’s in the town centre and that’s about it,” laughs guitarist Dave Farrell. “All of us that loved music as kids, we didn’t really have a choice but to pick up an instrument. We were just like ‘right, well none of us give a damn about football so let’s all learn an instrument’ – it was like ‘you can learn guitar, you learn drums, you learn bass, you can do vocals, let’s get together and jam’.”
Hammer’s ethos stems from this shared desire to create music for all the right reasons, and with the arrival of frontman James Andrews in 2023, they soon found themselves elevating their presence in the scene. After moving to Scotland from the Channel Island of Jersey – via London and Swansea – James’ similar musical experiences growing up in a small and musically active town enabled the meeting with his new comrades to feel totally natural.
“There’s definitely something in the water here. Since I’ve joined the band I feel like we’ve really found our sound, which is that extreme genre-bending mix of death metal, hardcore… and chaos,” enthuses James. “Live, we are a very energetic band, so it’s been really great to step into a band who had lots and lots of riffs and who were happy for me to come and scream as loud and hard as I can and to get involved.”
With the arrival of their new album Trapped, Hammer – whose members can also be found playing in Iron Altar and Dog Tired – have upped the ante of extreme, creating a cohesive and sonically mind blowing album. Trapped shows a band brimming with unbridled confidence in its songwriting and desire to redefine uncompromising heaviness. It’s an album that bulldozes its way through the speakers – relentless in its colossal riffs and technicality, battering-ram rhythms and clever musical nuances that go way beyond its obvious extremities. Its seven tracks effortlessly entwine the ferocious complexities of Strapping Young Lad at their most chaotic, with the bludgeoning grind of Pig Destroyer, to create a sound that is distinctly … Hammer.
With themes inspired by the band’s collective interests in gaming and horror, straight out of the gate is the opening track “Mea Culpa” – a blasphemous cacophony of blackened death metal exploring religious penitence and male guilt from the perspective of a priest. It’s quickly followed by the schlock-horror inspired “Trapped In A House With A Maniac” – a tale of the hunted becoming the hunter. Elsewhere “Gorehound” emits an Arthur Conan Doyle murder/ mystery story vibe; “The Hanged Man” addresses the Norse story of Odin and the tarot card of the same name; “Basilisk” explores the super AI thought experiments of Roko’s Basilisk; while the epic seven minute plus closer “Alive” tells the story of a person crawling through a mass grave of bodies, laid over a gnarly, dirty riff-fest.
Hammer released their eponymous debut a day before the pandemic forced the UK into an enforced lockdown. A collection of tracks written up to the point of release, its impact was somewhat lost in the clusterfuck of worldwide health madness that ensued for the next three years. Regrouping with James and continuing to write helped the quintet truly refine their sound and deliver their optimum full-force musical blow. Two standalone singles in 2024 – “Accelerator” and “From Beyond” – introduced the world to the new look Hammer and with the release of Trapped, 2025 is set to be an important milestone year in the world of metal.
“We are taking a pretty serious swing with ‘Trapped’,” states James with a smile. “We want to state our intention – it’s no compromise for us. We’re here to pummel.”
Trapped tracklisting:
01 Mea Culpa
02 Trapped In A House With A Maniac
03 The Hanged Man
04 Gorehound
05 Basilisk
06 Golem
07 Alive
All guitars and vocals were recorded and engineered at guitarist/ songwriter Adam Poustie’s home studio, while the drums were recorded at Edinburgh’s Nameless City Sound studio with King Witch’s Jamie Gilchrist. Mixed by Kris Kournavos from Scottish hardcore-math crew Kakihara, Grant Berry (Ithaca, Employed To Serve, Lottery Winners, Busted) completed the mastering process at Fader Mastering. Album artwork commissioned and created by renowned French artist Remy Cooper of Headsplit Design (Cryptopsy, Arch Enemy, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death – amongst many more)
Hammer is:
James Andrews – Vocals
Dave Farrell – Guitars
Adam Poustie – Guitars
Piotr Kasprowicz – Bass
Keith Blaikie – Drums
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