Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have announced the release of their third album, End Of Suffering, on May 3 via International Death Cult.
News of the release arrives with the debut of a video for new single “Crowbar” (https://fcatr.lnk.to/
Recorded in just six months over the heatwave that engulfed London last year, End Of Suffering – named after the Buddhist term for enlightenment – is the sound of a band entering an entirely new realm of the senses, a 40-minute rock’n’roller coaster of molten-hot bangers, scorched-soul ballads and grunge lullabies laced through with a lacerating lyrical honesty.
With Cam Blackwood (George Ezra/Jack Savoretti) at the helm and legendary mixer Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails/Queens Of The Stone Age) sprinkling sonic stardust, the resultant album sees Carter, co-songwriter and guitar player Dean Richardson and co. not so much spreading their wings as running and leaping headfirst into heretofore uncharted waters. Opener “Why A Butterfly Can’t Love A Spider” finds Frank at full stretch, singing: “When I’m high I’m in heaven/When I’m low I’m in hell,” while the first single “Crowbar” is tauter than a highwire and relentlessly sharpened to a razor’s edge, a sonic Molotov cocktail of a track delivered with the anarchic zel of the gilets-jaunes rioters. “I saw an amazing bit of graffiti during the Paris riots which said: ‘We’ve cut off heads for less than this,” enthuses Frank. “I loved that attitude. People are sick of being force fed doom and gloom.” It also comes complete with a video directed by longtime collaborator Ross Cairns (Biffy Clyro/Queens Of The Stone Age) and acts as a blistering clarion call to arms.
When the fury is dialed down, however, even more startling shades start to surface. “Anxiety” is a paranoiac festival anthem in waiting, while “Love Games” is an absolute beauty; a distortion-heavy nod to Amy Winehouse’s finest moments. “Angel Wings” is as bleakly poetic as Charles Bukowski.
The album also features Tom Morello as a guest guitarist on “Tyrant Lizard King.” The two re-connected after many years at Resurrection Festival in Spain last summer, where Frank infamously sang the Rage classic “Killing In The Name” to a 40,000 strong crowd.
Indeed. In an age of say-nothing pop and codified corporate rock, End Of Suffering does what all great music should: lift the spirits and stir the soul.
End Of Suffering tracklist:
1. Why a Butterfly Can’t Love a Spider
2. Tyrant Lizard King feat. Tom Morello
3. Heartbreaker
4. Crowbar
5. Love Games
6. Anxiety
7. Angel Wings
8. Supervillain
9. Latex Dreams
10. Kitty Sucker
11. Little Devil
12. End Of Suffering
