Brutal metalcore outfit and recent MNRK Heavy signees MOUTH FOR WAR will unleash their punishing Bleed Yourself full-length October 27th, today unveiling the record’s cover art, track listing, and latest video/single!
Catharsis builds community. As if conducting group scream therapy, MOUTH FOR WAR incites a collective release of emotion set to a soundtrack of metal intensity, pit-splitting hardcore spirit, and earth-rumbling grooves. The Colorado quintet — vocalist Trae Roberts, drummer Mason Sego, guitarists Gabe Moya and Jonah Starbuck, and bassist Michael Guglielmi — rallies listeners together around unflinchingly honest and uncontainable bursts of aggression and emotion. After earning praise from Outburn, No Echo, and many more, they hold nothing back on their second full-length LP and debut album for MNRK Heavy, Bleed Yourself.
During 2019, MOUTH FOR WAR united members of underground favorites Bruise, Remain, and Sustain. Following the An Ear Kept To The Ground EP, the group unleashed Life Cast In Glass in 2021. Earning widespread acclaim, MetalSucks raved, “This Colorado quintet plays pure, untainted metallic hardcore that has all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. It’s like Hatebreed wrote a song for Xibalba or pre-Underneath Code Orange.” Along the way, they carefully struck an elusive balance of modern and classic heavy music, nodding to Lamb Of God, The Devil Wears Prada, and Meshuggah as well as Pantera (hence their band name) and Metallica.
In early 2023, the band decamped to Chicago to record with producer Pete Grossmann at BrickTop Recording. Ultimately, the setting and circumstances enabled the musicians to hyper focus. “It was the first time we left home and stayed together somewhere,” says Roberts. “The weather was insane in Chicago, so we didn’t really leave the studio. However, we were able to get more in tune with each other, have fun, and make memories around this record. We built a unified piece together.”
They introduced this barrage last month with their “Under The Gun” single. Roberts’ guttural vocals growl just as deeply as the distortion while an airtight melodic riff cuts through pummeling drums only to recoil into a chugging stomp.
“The goal was for every measure and breakdown to smack you in the face,” notes Roberts. “We thought it was the perfect track to introduce the new MOUTH FOR WAR. It’s about feeling like someone you lost is holding you down. You can’t properly grieve and move past what’s happening. It’s like you’re put under the gun. You don’t want to lose those memories, but you want the pressure to stop.”
Gushed Revolver of the track, “‘Under The Gun’ is a hulking slab of relentless metalcore that’s laced with a few whirring death metal leads, some gnarly deathcore breakdown patterns. and all the raw grit of a true-blue metallic hardcore band like Knocked Loose or Jesus Piece. This is music that’s so heavy it makes your arms sore to listen to it.”
And today the band unleashes its latest single, “Saturate Me,” with an accompanying video. The song hinges on ominous warbling of a country-style prayer until the momentum blasphemously turns on a dime with a blast of bludgeoning percussion and incendiary riffing. Uplifted by an unexpected fit of melody, its unpredictability proves undeniable.
“It’s one of the most emotional songs on this body of work,” Roberts reveals. “You feel like you’re relentlessly being dragged down and can’t go out of this hole. It has a similar meaning to ‘Under The Gun,’ but the rhythm builds differently.”
Elaborates director Errick Easterday, “I’m thankful the band has continued to bring me back to direct videos for every release so far, and with this one I wanted to take a step in a different direction than we have in the past. We filmed the performance and narrative with a few months in-between, and that time gave the song some space to grow its own story around it. It ultimately landed on this fun early 2000s style horror. We really wanted to channel metal videos we watched as kids where the narratives are loose and weird, the colors are bright and crazy, and the band members take the spotlight. Inspiration on my end comes from a lot of music videos from bands of the era like Underoath, Every Time I Die, Bring Me The Horizon, Lamb Of God; as well as movies like Slither, The Collector, and Jennifer’s Body.”
Watch MOUTH FOR WAR’s “Saturate Me” video at THIS LOCATION. Stream the track at THIS LOCATION.
Watch MOUTH FOR WAR’s previously released video for “Under The Gun” video HERE.
Bleed Yourself will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.
Bleed Yourself Track Listing:
1. Roses In Place Of Your Ashes
2. The Plight Of Those You Left Behind
3. Captivated
4. No Grace
5. Taste Of Steel
6. In Lieu Of Flowers
7. The Devil
8. Saturate Me
9. Under The Gun
1. Talking To God
11. Shattered Self
12. The Rush Of Seeing Red
13. Bleed Yourself
MOUTH FOR WAR Live:
10/13/2023 Snow And Flurry Fest – Minneapolis, MN
11/18/2023 Flyover Fest – Tulsa, OK
11/25/2023 Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO Bleed Yourself Record Release Show
MOUTH FOR WAR:
Trae Roberts – vocals
Mason Sego – drums
Gabe Moya – guitar
Jonah Starbuck – guitar
Michael Guglielmi – bass
https://www.facebook.com/mouthforwarco
https://www.instagram.com/mouthforwarco