End Reign makes their Relapse Records debut with their explosive album, The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay, out July 14. Masterminded by underground music fixture Domenic Romeo (Integrity/Pulling Teeth/A389 Recordings) and featuring an all-star cast of musicians and contributors, End Reign fuses apocalyptic hardcore with vicious metal in a deadly collision of the classic and the modern.
“Inspired by the post-apocalyptic feeling my surroundings provided at the time during lockdowns (the roads were empty…no one was outside…it was a lot like the movie ‘Last Man On Earth’) I wanted to create a band whose aesthetic reflected that isolation and desolation. That's how End Reign was born.”
Watch End Reign’s “Desolate Fog” music video, directed by Jeffrey Sisson (Exhumed, Gruesome), below.
Domenic Romeo comments on “Desolate Fog”: “This song was written with the intention of being the album opener. The whole first part before the vocals come in was inspired by the final scene in Tales from The Crypt (1972). The part where the crypt keeper tells his entourage that ‘they are here for allll eternity’ before they fall into the abyss one by one. The intro also pays homage to my favorite Overcast song ‘Begging For Indifference’ before launching into a death / black metal ride that falls off the track and bursts into flames….only to fall off again and burst into even more flames….oof. I was listening to Mayhem ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ a lot when I wrote this, it’s pretty evident in some of the riffing. I had to stop though...that record gives me the creeps.”
The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay physical pre-orders are available here. Digital downloads/streaming here.
The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay tracklisting:
"Desolate Fog"
"Chaos Masked As Order"
"The Hunger"
"Divine Abysmal End"
"Serpent Messiah"
"House Of Thieves"
"Giving Life To Tragedy"
"Chasing Divinity"
"When Death Comes Crawling"
"The Night Creeps Upon Me"
"Desolate Fog" video:
Taking musical inspiration from ’80s linchpins Amebix, Bathory, Slayer and Cro-Mags, End Reign sees the talents of Mike Score of New York metalcore kings All Out War, Adam Jarvis of grind titans Pig Destroyer and Misery Index, former Bloodlet bassist Arthur Legere and Exhumed/Noisem shredder Sebastian Phillips joining Romeo to bring his vision to life.
Score’s lyrics explore the psychological torment of being trapped between opposing realities. “Most of the album, especially songs like ‘The Hunger’ and ‘Death Comes Crawling,’ deal with being caught between two worlds—the living and the dead, heaven and hell, what was and what is to come,” the vocalist explains.
Recorded over a year at Landmine Studios with Len Carmichael at the helm, End Reign’s full-length debut features vocal cameos from Romeo’s longtime collaborator and Integrity bandmate Dwid Hellion, Full Of Hell’s Dylan Walker and—incredibly—Ed Ka-Spel from avant-rock fabulons The Legendary Pink Dots.
The result is one of 2023's most aggressive and enthralling albums. “This album is like riding a rollercoaster in a theme park based on all the extreme music I’ve enjoyed throughout my life,” Romeo says. “I hope that any fans of our musical family tree will enjoy the ride as much as we did.”
End Reign Is:
Mike Score: Vocals
Domenic Romeo: Guitar
Adam Jarvis: Drums
Arthur Legere: Bass / Backing Vocals
Sebastian Phillips: Guitar
(Photo - Blake Roemer)
