Borderline psychedelic sludge metal brigade, Inter Arma, have unveiled a new music video for their track, “Concrete Cliffs.” The song is taken from their upcoming album, New Heaven, which is due out April 26th via Relapse Records. The band will be playing the new long-player in full at this year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, before a North American tour later in the year with Pallbearer. Head into the article below for the “Concrete Cliffs” video and more.
Pre-order New Heaven here.
Inter Arma’s TJ Childers comments, “While sonically “Concrete Cliffs” doesn’t exactly traverse any new terrain in the Inter Arma universe-psychedelia, one note knuckle dragger riffs and Lizzy-esque harmony guitars-it marks the first time we’ve ever gone after a harsh verse/melodic chorus dichotomy within a song. It’s kind of a classic metal recipe that we put our own fucked up spin on. Hope ya’ll dig it.”
Additionally, Inter Arma have dropped a limited edition “Concrete Cliffs” t-shirt of which 10% of proceeds go to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Virginia. Childers says, “We are releasing a “Concrete Cliffs” t-shirt to coincide with the release of the song and music video. It’s limited to 200 pieces and 10% of the proceeds of each t-shirt sale will be donated to NAMI Virginia to help ensure that all Virginians continue to have access to mental health resources if and when they need it. Thank you.”
Order the “Concrete Cliffs” t-shirt here.
New Heaven is a compelling testament to perseverance, top to bottom. Its thicket of ever-dense layers of doom, death, and black metal occasionally let bits of light slip in, fleeting reminders to keep going amid the tumult. The record marks a sharp turn for Inter Arma, showcasing some of the most extreme and angular songwriting the band has ever laid bare. Known for their cinematic take on sludgy, extremely cavernous metal, the Richmond band broadens their dynamics by seesawing between piledriving momentum and swirling oblivion. New Heaven crushes and conquers, and illustrates what Inter Arma can truly be.
Though New Heaven is indeed another triumph for the band, it is not a triumphant album, meant to offer some glib or naïve assurance that everything will be fine. They call it the ‘Inter Arma Curse’: for nearly two decades, the band has emerged as one of the most inspired and fearless acts in or around American metal. They’ve also endured an endless parade of complications, hurdles, and slights: visa problems in Russia, stolen passports in Europe, unexpected member turmoil in their ranks, accidents and near death experiences, and a pervasive paradoxical sense that they have either been too metal or not metal enough. It’s been forever Sisyphean, except that Inter Arma has sporadically crested the hill to make a series of visionary albums.
As New Heaven started to take shape, the curse roared to life. Worldwide pandemic that squashed tours and writing sessions aside, Inter Arma churned through four bassists before finding salvation in Joel Moore, a guitar-and-engineering whiz who had never before played bass in a band. With the addition of Moore, drummer T.J. Childers admits that New Heaven features some of the kind of music Inter Arma could have never executed. Listen for the uncanny keyboards wedged between Paparo and the band, for the ways Steven Russell and Trey Dalton coil and collide with Moore, for Childers’ way of slipping some Southern soul into what borders on truly brutal prog. Paparo’s keen and empathetic lyrics explore arduous facets of the human experience, from innocent victims of war, to addiction, and social apathy. New Heaven is a record about enduring brambles and curses and lasting long enough to make something profound, honest, and even affirming about it all every now and again..
Childers comments, “New Heaven is the culmination of four years worth of adversity ranging from near death experiences, multiple member changes and of course a global pandemic. It marks a new chapter for us musically as we feel we’ve taken our songwriting to places we’ve never explored before. We’re excited to have come out of the madness relatively unscathed and feel as though we’ve created something completely unique that will stand apart in the sometimes homogenous extreme music community.”
Guitarist Trey Dalton continues, “This record, maybe more than our previous efforts, more fully represents what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s still very much us – you know, music made by dudes coming from disparate musical backgrounds and perspectives, but with a more collective and defined sense of purpose. Clarity in direction, maybe. Your mileage may vary, but we like it a lot, and we hope you do too.”
New Heaven tracklisting:
01 New Heaven
02 Violet Seizures
03 Desolation’s Harp
04 Endless Grey
05 Gardens in the Dark
07 The Children the Bombs Overlooked
08 Concrete Cliffs
09 Forest Service Road Blues
Catch Inter Arma at this year’s Roadburn Festival on April 18th performing New Heaven in its entirety and look for the band on tour supporting Pallbearer this July and August.
Inter Arma on tour:
April 18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival, playing New Heaven
July 11 St. Louis, MI @ Off Broadway ^
July 13 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater ^
July 15 Calgary, AB @ Dickens ^
July 16 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room ^
July 18 Vancouver, WA @ Rickshaw ^
July 19 Seattle, WA @ Substation ^
July 20 Portland, OR @ Star Theater ^
July 23 Sacramento, CA @ Harlows ^
July 24 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall ^
July 26 Santa Cruz @ The Catalyst Atrium ^
July 27 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick ^
July 28 Los Angeles, CA @ Terragram Ballroom ^
July 29 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom ^
July 30 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar ^
August 1 Dallas, TX @ Trees ^
August 2 Austin, TX @ The Parish ^
August 3 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall ^
^ w/ Pallbearer & The Keening
Inter Arma is:
T.J. Childers – Drums, Percussion, guitars, lap steel, piano, noise
Trey Dalton – Guitar, synthesizers, mellotron, vocals
Joel Moore – Bass, synthesizers, tape loops, samples, and noise
Mike Paparo – Vocals
Steven Russell – Guitars
Follow Inter Arma:
https://www.facebook.com/INTERARMA
https://interarma.bandcamp.com/album/new-heaven
https://www.instagram.com/interarmamusic/