Long-awaited follow-up to Descent Into The Maelstrom coming August 25th
One of the most memorable albums I’ve ever been sent as a music writer was way back in 2011 from an Australian band called The Matador. They hail from Gold Coast, which sounds like a lovely place but is probably as hot and deadly as the rest of the fucking continent. Anyway, the album was called Descent Into The Maelstrom, and immediately piqued my interest with various references to Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favourite writers.
The Poe-isms were backed up by an incredibly composed and evocative set of tracks. That it’s still in rotation to this day says something I think, and so it’s with baited breath that I’ve waited for its follow-up. In my quest for news, I even co-opted bassist Joshua Hobbins to write for this very site.
But whilst it’s been a little while between releases, the band have been far from quiet. Most recently they supported the likes of Russian Circles, Deafheaven and Voyager on their respective jaunts in the last year,
FINALLY, the advent of DITM‘s follow-up is upon us though, as The Matador today announced that Destroyer is to be released in a little over two weeks.
The first of a proposed two-part affair (the second being Creator), Destroyer has some impressive names behind it already; Converge guitarist and producer extraordinaire Kurt Ballou has mixed the record, whilst the legendary Alan Douches was tapped up for mastering.
The first taste of the album was released a few weeks ago in the form of a video for the title track, which looks like this:
Between albums, The Matador have changed vocalist, but it’s made not a jot of difference in quality. The ISIS-like quality of certain passages is overlaid with newbie Nathan Wyner’s throat-shredding yells. Sam Amey’s drumming is unfussy but punishing; reserved in places and all the punchier for the restraint. I’ve actually had the pleasure of hearing the whole thing, and it promises to be one of the underground post-metal releases of the year.
The tracklist is as follows: