Fists of Fury debut album, New Age of Dread, out now!!
I spent majority of the morning that ended up bleeding into the afternoon using my waking energy to head bang to Fists of Fury’s debut album, New Age of Dread. The satisfying amount of riffs and mosh parts that are embedded in this project is stimulating to fans of metal, thrash and hardcore alike. It serves to be a real treat as I display my hometown Texas pride. In many ways, New Age of Dread carries the torch from their predecessors as it is proven that the Lone Star State carries its own brand of heavy music to which I firmly stand behind. This album is the perfect soundtrack to an apocalyptic environment that may or may not be in the distant future.
I had the pleasure of engaging in a conversation with guitarist Taylor Riley about the midnight release. There was a considerable amount of anticipation leading up to this release for quite some time. It grew after the single, Fire on the Mongrel was released. “Believe it or not, we started writing songs for this record after our first show and honestly I’ve been anticipating it ever since”, Taylor expresses. “Every since we’ve recorded, it’s been a constant thought in the back of my head, ‘ Man, are people really going to like this?’”. Taylor’s anxiety got the best of his judgment, a common thought that brews in the mind of musicians “It’s one thing for the homies to love it, but does Joe- schmo hardcore in NYC going to like this? No disrespect to my friends or anything like that, I’m just trying to write a record that’s bigger than myself.”
As for many fans would have guessed by this point and considering the band’s geographical location, the strong influences in this record are Power Trip and Iron Age. When asked about reaching a widespread audience, Taylor stresses the point that Fists of Fury took a different approach, “We [Fists of Fury] deliberately wrote differently than any other contemporary crossover hardcore band. We didn’t want people to listen to this and just think, ‘Oh, they’re just ripping off of Power Trip’. Clearly, Power Trip is a huge influence on us, but in my opinion it’s different.” Taylor’s other main influences in writing this record are Exhorder, Demolition Hammer, DRI, Breakdown (Blacklisted) and Leeway.
As expected, Fists of Fury pays homage to the late pioneers of the current generation’s hardcore scene, Riley Gale and Wade Allison, but by no means does FOF have big shoes to fill in. “I don’t think those shoes could ever be filled again, honestly. Power Trip and Iron Age will always sit at the top and I’m more than happy with that. I won’t ever try to dethrone them.”
In Taylor’s words in regards to the FOF sound, “ I wouldn’t say we’re reinventing the wheel but we’re definitely putting some new spices in the recipe”. The features presented on New Age of Dread brings additional Texas flavored sauce. What surprised me the most was listening to Fire on the Mongrel featuring Brian “ Jerk “ Storms. It brought a sense of familiarity as nostalgia sounded off when Jerk’s vocals hit the airwaves. “Honestly, it was the last song we wrote before we went into the studio and the Malette brothers hit up Jerk to co-write the song and they hit that shit Bio-Hazard style. It couldn’t have come together in a better way in my opinion.” In response to question in regards of the I AM feature on the song Fear, Taylor expresses his personal connection with the lead singer Andrew and how much the band had helped FOF, '‘I’ve known Andrew for a long time and I think it definitely sealed the deal when they asked us to play with them at J&J’s at the end of 2019. I AM has no reason to put on for us the way that they do but they support us all the way. I have nothing but love for those dudes.
Taylor’s Top Three tracks ( in no specific order)
Oppression- “ Because it has every aspect of a perfect crossover song: fast/moshy/creepy sample
Soul Snatcher- “ it is the most ‘hardcore’ track on the record and it has my favorite 2 step part
Crawl - “Definitely another favorite. We changed up a few parts and made it exactly what I imagined in the first place.”
My first assumption on the album title New Age of Dread was a direct correlation to our current state affairs; COVID-19, presidential election, racial tension, etc. Although, my assumption wasn’t totally correct, Taylor assures me that I wasn’t too far off either, “ You can relate the title to tons of things, especially the current disasters that was mentioned. We originally wrote these lyrics in August of 2019 before COVID-19 was even a thing and look how prevalent it is now. If anything, I would say that the name New Age of Dread is that this is new era and Riley Gale said it best when he said ‘ The goal is to manifest higher than before’. “
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