Today Rochester, NY’s UNDEATH has announced their third album, More Insane, alongside the lead single and accompanying music video, Brandish the Blade. The US death metal band will release More Insane on October 4 via Prosthetic Records, with pre-orders available here.
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR BRANDISH THE BLADE BELOW.
Stream Brandish the Blade via Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, Bandcamp and Spotify.
Pre-order More Insane here.
Of the album announcement, UNDEATH comments: “More Insane is the biggest, baddest, nastiest UNDEATH record yet by every conceivable metric. It’s a fucking sick death metal record for sick death metal freaks and anyone out there who can appreciate the transcendent power of a good riff played fast on distorted electric guitars. No bullshit whatsoever – not even for a second. 10 tracks of death metal earworms crafted by 5 guys who shower just irregularly enough to invoke the spirits of the death metal ancient ones.
“Follow me on this one for a sec: In weightlifting terms, if our last record, It’s Time…to Rise from the Grave was our cut cycle record, where we trimmed the fat and honed things down to the raw essentials, More Insane is us entering our bulk cycle, where we built a big, filthy record on top of a canvas of pure death metal muscle. We co-produced it with Mark Lewis, who engineered, mixed and mastered the whole thing and made the best sounding album we’ve ever made. It’ll sound absolutely killer on literally anything you play it on, and it’ll sound even better if you turn it way the fuck up.
There’s songs about advancing armies of the undead, demonic bounty hunters, homicide, perverse experiments gone horribly awry, dead people screaming and crying tears of blood, homicide (again), and so much more. Matt (Browning – drums) painted the cover art and this marks the end of the trilogy of paintings starting back with Lesions of a Different Kind, where we’ve zoomed out far enough now to reveal that the entire fucked up universe of these covers has taken place entirely within the collapsed and bursting skull of a rotting godhead floating in a soulless void.
“To put a bow on it all: More Insane is the sickest shit we’ve ever done, full stop. Death metal reigns supreme forever and we are but its humble servants. Enjoy and smoke em if you’ve got em.”
On Brandish the Blade, the band adds: “Brandish the Blade was one of the first songs that came together for More Insane and it’s easily one of the most anthemic songs that we’ve ever written. Specifically it’s about a conquering army (probably of the undead, as is our M.O.) moving from battlefield to battlefield and annihilating anything and anyone who gets in their way, but broadly speaking I’ve always felt that it was a call to arms for all those who believe that death metal in all its unadulterated glory is something worth fighting for. The chorus repeats the line “The time is now”, and I see that as a natural evolution from the chorus of Rise from the Grave, which was the first single from our last record. We’ve risen from the grave, and now it’s time to brandish the fucking blade.”
Previous album It’s Time… To Rise from the Grave caught a wave of acclaim on TheNeedleDrop’s YouTube channel, earned Best New Music from Pitchfork, and, most impressively, rocketed to the top of Decibel Magazine’s Top 40 Albums of 2022, along with a coveted cover feature. On More Insane, UNDEATH – featuring Kyle Beam (guitars), Alexander Jones (vocals), Tommy Wall (bass), Jared Welch (guitars), and Matt Browning (drums)—feast on the rotten flesh of brutality, complexity, and depravity.
If the gross-out teenage hallucinations of It’s Time… rattled death metal’s caved-in cranium, More Insane explodes with even sicker vistas. Lyrically, UNDEATH pick up, in part, where Necrobionics and Enhancing the Dead left off. Indeed, the undead armies (from space) cause more carnage in Sutured for War and Dead from Beyond. Elsewhere, the New Yorkers summon nightmares from video games (Bloodborne, etc.) on Cramped Caskets (Necrology), turn to high fantasy on Brandish the Blade, and man-eating laboratory demons on Disattachment of a Prophylactic in the Brain. Unifying themes of murder, weirdos, psychotic people (who kill others), and more lunacy prevail on More Insane. Browning’s eye-catching cover art of a splayed head atop an optic white background engulfs all in graphic, blood-soaked glory.
The recording of More Insane was hearsed over to American studio wizard Mark Lewis (Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder) at Mark Lewis Audio in Nashville, TN. UNDEATH and Lewis met after a gig in Alabama. They became fast friends. With the basics out of the way, the group set up a month-long residency at Lewis’s studio to nail down More Insane. UNDEATH and Lewis co-produced, while Lewis handled engineering, mixing, and mastering. Brandish the Blade, Disputatious Malignancy, Dead from Beyond, and the title track are pure, unyielding death brought to horrifying reality by a kick-ass production.
Expect UNDEATH to take More Insane to their diehard fans around the world. Expect more bloodshed, crazier merch, and a ton of fun. In life, there’s only UNDEATH. Only this time, it’s More Insane!
More Insane tracklisting
- Dead From Beyond
- More Insane
- Brandish the Blade
- Disputatious Malignancy
- Sutured For War
- Cramped Caskets (Necrology)
- Bounty Hunter
- Wailing Cadavers
- Disattachment of a Prophylactic in the Brain
- Bones Clattering in the Cave