New Orleans' disciples of hardcore, blues-based, post-amplified audio wreckage EYEHATEGOD have set a March 12 release date for the band's first new full-length album in seven years, "A History Of Nomadic Behavior". The official visualizer for the disc's first single, "High Risk Trigger", can be seen below. Lyrically, the song is cryptic and abstract, but it touches on the all-pervasive fears bred by an invisible germ storm sweeping through the nation and a society sickened by police brutality: "Infection is the way, disruptive crowd takes aim/Burn down the rail yard house, destroy the U.S.A."
Singer Mike IX Williams said of the songs on the album: "We're not a political band, but it was hard not to be affected by the news from the past year. During this recording, I thought a lot about how stupid humanity has become and how America is now completely divided with these people who don't believe in science and blindly follow liars and nonsensical ideologies. Some of those feelings may have found their way into these songs, but it is mostly subliminal."
"A History Of Nomadic Behavior" follows a period that saw EYEHATEGOD on the road for three years, preceded by Williams suffering liver failure and a transplant. "We toured our asses off for three years and that's where 'A History Of Nomadic Behavior' basically comes from," Williams says before touching on his health challenge: "Death is a part of life; it's a roll of the dice. Sometimes you take life as it comes, other times you fight to stay alive."
"A History Of Nomadic Behavior" was produced by EYEHATEGOD, Sanford Parker (YOB, VOIVOD) and James Whitten (THOU, HIGH ON FIRE), with mixing by Whitten. The band recorded at HighTower Recording and Hypercube studios. The artwork for the LP was created by Gary Mader and Mike IX Williams.
"A History Of Nomadic Behavior" track listing:
01. Built Beneath The Lies
02. The Outer Banks
03. Fake What's Yours
04. Three Black Eyes
05. Current Situation
06. High Risk Trigger
07. Anemic Robotic
08. The Day Felt Wrong
09. The Trial Of Johnny Cancer
10. Smoker's Place
11. Circle Of Nerves
12. Every Thing, Every Day
Last March, EYEHATEGOD scrapped the last three shows of its European tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band later blamed "bumbling dolt" Donald Trump for announcing a ban on travel to the U.S. from 26 European countries, which caused chaos at European airports as Americans, fearing being caught up in the ban, attempted to travel home early.
EYEHATEGOD's last album, a self-titled affair, came out in 2014. It arrived a decade and a half after its predecessor, 2000's "Confederacy Of Ruined Lives".
EYEHATEGOD's 1990 "In The Name Of Suffering" and 1993 "Take As Needed For Pain" studio albums are considered their seminal works and are often cited as pillars of the American sludge sound alongside ACID BATH, BUZZOV*EN and CROWBAR.
Photo credit: Robb Duchemin
