Alienatör is a sludge metal band from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada that combines punk, hardcore, and noise rock elements into a stripped-down package, full of razor-sharp riffs and memorable hooks. They are gearing up to release their second album “Regrets” this fall and it is chock full of dark themes, ferocious intensity, and raw emotion.
The first single off the album is “Blood Red Blood”, which vocalist/guitarist Brad King outlines:
“This one is a real barn burner and one of our first collaborative songwriting efforts. I showed up with the opening riff, which has an odd time signature, that we counted as 9/8 or something wacky. Sean wrote the rest of the music around it. I like the breakdown in the middle a lot, where we trade vocal lines back and forth. It’s a fun one to play live. The lyrics are about the cycle of violence and toxic masculinity. Basically how hurt people hurt people and how what we do to others eventually gets paid back to us in the end. Blood in, blood out.”
Listen to “Blood Red Blood” via its premiere on BraveWords:
Alienatör’s previous album was written as a two-piece, but for this new offering, the band consists of vocalist/guitarist Brad King, bassist/vocalist Sean Skillen and Simon Paquette on drums, which has taken their songwriting to the next level. They still have some blistering fast punk-influenced tunes, but they're branching out and showing their creative depth on songs like “The Priest”, “Irreconcilable” and “Dark Matters”. They delve into gritty topics such as alienation, grief, pain, and disgust at the state of the modern world. Composed during the claustrophobia of the 2020 election and the global pandemic the album channels more rage than its predecessor.
Alienatör started out cobbling bits of different heavy styles together, juxtaposing very fast, thrashy material with slower doomy influences and weird experimentation. Over time, they have forged their own sound which carries a lot of the energy of punk and post-hardcore, with a heavy, abrasive edge and introspective or socially conscious lyrics. They are recommended for fans of Unsane, Melvins, and Neurosis.
Preorder on Bandcamp.
Tracklisting:
“Revisionist History”
“Loss Leader”
“Blood Red Blood”
“Regrets”
“The Priest”
“The Less Dead”
“Flat Earth Society”
“Irreconcilable”
“Your Funeral”
“Wounded Birds”
“Dark Matters”
(Photo – Peter David Wragg)
