Pestilent Age is back and man it feels good. As always, we’ve been extremely busy writing and recording new music. The single we are about to release is just the second of eight singles that will drop in the coming months. Releasing singles one by one has given us the opportunity to hyper-focus on our craft and experiment a great deal. Each song has been a chance to change our writing process, tweak our playing, change our tone, try new techniques, and execute different mix ideas. With the release of Novgorod we had bettered ourselves as musicians, however the music had been written side by side with the Medieval Holocaust songs. Since then we’ve grown both as people and as musicians. Hard at work, Pestilent Age has spent tireless hours bettering our craft. This time around we decided to take what we know about writing metal and expand our knowledge as far as we could. The results we hope will speak for themselves…. but that’s for you to decide.
The second single we will be releasing is called “Chemicals of Annihilation”. Lyrically this track walks you through the horror of chemical weapons in war, specifically Mustard, Sarin, and Chlorine gas. Inspired by the chemical attacks by the Assad regime in Syria that left civilians dead or disabled, “Chemicals of Annihilation” talks about what it was like for those who found themselves exposed unknowingly to gases that kill, cripple, and disfigure its victims. Death by suffocation might be the best way to go. The victims of these attacks are extremely likely to experience breathing problems, eye sight problems, and burns for the rest of their lives.
While there is an undeniable element of gore typical of most death metal “Chemicals of Annihilation” lays down the lyrical content foundation that will appear on all eight new singles. Global problems destabilizing the world is a topic that is as relevant now as it has ever been, and while our last 2 releases have overwhelmingly pertained to historical topics, this time around we’re going to focus on all that is wrong in the world today. Flints’ water crisis, heroin, human slavery, our lack of understanding basic scientific process, the clashing of generations, the looming threat of nuclear warfare, all of these topics and more will be found in our music to come. So much is going on in the world, in our own back yard and this is our chance to talk about. Can 3 musicians change the world with our perspectives on life in today world? Probably not and we don’t expect to do so. All we hope to do is spark up conversation and encourage our fans to investigate the world around them and draw their own conclusions.
The music in “Chemicals of Annihilation” throws a few new elements in the mix. Roach has been working harder than ever on his vocals; this is highlighted as soon as the vocals kick in with a Cattle Decapitation type low. “Chemicals of Annihilation” vocally focuses on Roach’s lows. Noticeably his lows have gotten grittier and less raspy. A focus on phrasing has also been a theme among these new singles. The vocals should sound thicker and more natural. The Phrasings don’t follow the guitar melodies and thus seem to fill out the song more than past Pestilent Age songs. Pronunciation on these tracks has been a huge point of importance as well and these singles should highlight this.
Tempos have been slowed down for this song. Consistent and driving, this song should keep your head bobbing. Inverted power chords are held out underneath melodic leads and the bass tone grinds this song forward into new dimensions. Faster verses make the slow choruses hit harder. Roach introduces 16th note 5 string sweep picking for the first time and Spud tastefully introduces arpeggio bass into the band during the 2nd chorus. The drums in “Chemicals of Annihilation” are simple but yet precise. They work wonders keeping this song interesting and moving forward. Double bass is scarce and this song doesn’t contain blast beats because it doesn’t need to. We set out to write a simple song that highlights our individual talents only when it serves the song. On past releases we’ve focused on new techniques and finding ways to introduce them into the music we were writing. This worked but this time around we found ourselves asking. “Are we adding this just to do it or are we adding this because it serves the music?” Upcoming songs do contain blast beats, double bass, and over the top fills but those songs feel entirely different and call for those elements to dominate. While this particular track highlights a slow and steady groove other tracks push our speed boundaries. These songs are a test. We have stepped out of our comfort zone to make some of our best music yet. Over the next couple of months we hope to release songs that every metal head can enjoy and appreciate. All the best ideas spawned from these songs will help us as we begin to write our 2nd full length album.
We hope that you enjoy our new songs as much as we enjoyed writing and recording them. Stay tuned. There will be more to come.
Lyrics
Verse 1
Odorless, Lungs collapse
Breathless gasps, Sarin gas
Vomiting foam, Defecation
Blurry vision, Convulsions death
Chorus 1
Raining down poison, From the sky
Inhaling toxic, Deadly fumes
Effects permanent, If survived
Disfiguring all, Bear the scares
Verse 2
Yellow clouds, Burning skin
Mustard gas, Murdering
Slowly suffer, for days on end
Blisters and sores, Suffocation
Chorus 2
Indiscriminate
Poisoning everyone
Unable to scream
As you take your last breath