UK heavies, Mastiff, have just unleashed their latest single, “A Story Behind Every Light.” In the same breath, they announced the upcoming release of their new EP, For All the Dead Dreams. It is due out this October 24th, via Church Road Records. Catch the new single and more in the article below.
The band have this to say about the track:
“We picked “A Story Behind Every Light” as the lead single because it pretty unanimously became our favourite track, not just on this EP but in the band’s entire catalogue. It does some pretty heavy lifting thematically, as the song deals with Jim’s very real suicidal ideations in the aftermath of losing his son, but being pulled back from the brink by his daughter. Sonically we were channelling the kind of driving death metal that bands like Gatecreeper do so well, but being us we also threw a couple of skronky meat-head breakdowns in there too.”
Whether spreading plagues, turning the Earth to ash or teetering on the precipice of depression, you can always count on Kingston Upon Hull’s premier misery merchants Mastiff to ruin your day. Now well over a decade into their parade of embittered misanthropy, the East Yorkshire quintet have definitively burned their mark into the UK’s extreme music scene with a fistful of mangled hardcore and sludge riffs and an endless well of spite. Mastiff’s reputation as a ferocious live entity only continues to grow, as they have spent the last few years racking up appearances at prestigious heavy music festivals like Bloodstock, Damnation, Incineration and DesertFest to name but a few, as well as sharing stages and touring with the likes of Avatar, Palm Reader, Conan, Black Tongue, Cult Leader, Calligram, Iron Monkey, Raging Speedhorn and many, many more.
As for recorded output, following two critically acclaimed albums on MNRK Heavy (High On Fire, The Callous Daoboys, Underoath, Darkest Hour), as well as their track “Acid Breather” appearing in the multi-million-selling video game Cyberpunk 2077 and its Netflix anime spin-off Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Mastiff have finally and proudly joined the hallowed roster of Church Road Records for the release of For All The Dead Dreams, a blistering five-song assault of pummelling and aggravated hardcore.
Once again recorded and mixed by the incredible Joe Clayton at Nø Studio and mastered by the legendary Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, …Dead Dreams sees Mastiff at their most brutish, sounding like Nails, Harms Way and Gatecreeper thrown into a cement mixer and poured straight into your ears. If the band’s previous album Deprecipice felt as blunt and ignorant as heavy music gets, revel in horror as Mastiff collectively grunt ‘Hold my beer’ and dish up 15 minutes of unrelenting and unforgiving punishment.
For All the Dead Dreams tracklisting:
01 Soliloquy
02 Rotting Blossoms
03 Decimated Graves
04 A Story Behind Every Light
05 Corporeal
Upcoming tour dates:
August:
30 – Leeds @ Boom w/Escuela Grind
September:
27 – Southampton @ Abyssal Fest
October:
04 – Cheltenham @ The Frog and Fiddle
10 – Derby @ Vic Inn
31 – Hull @ Polar Bear
November:
01 – Leeds @ Northern Monk
w/ Raging Speedhorn
20 – Milton Keynes @ The Craufurd Arms
21 – Bournemouth @ The Anvil
22 – London @ The Black Heart
23 – London @ The Black Heart
28 – Manchester @ The Star and Garter
29 – Edinburgh @ The Mash House
30 – Newcastle @ Trillians
Band members:
Vocals – Jim Hodge
Guitars – Phil Johnson
Guitars – James Lee-Ross
Drums – Mike Shepherd
Bass – Dan Dolby