AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: PIST — “FOOLS GAVE CHASE”

 

With their new album Hailz, released not long ago by APF Records, the UK band Pist took some significant steps away from the “stoner doom” label that had become affixed to their previous releases, even though the band had never been comfortable with that label in the first place. As vocalist David Rowlands has explained, “in our eyes we’re a heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll band who listen to a fair bit of Black Metal and Punk”. Those interests come through loud and clear in the seven tracks on Hailz. As David has further said, he and guitarist John Nicholson had loads of ideas for riffs and basic structures, but when “we entered the jam room with these ideas and the four of us put our heads together it started growing and growing. I feel this record reflects more of our personal influences from shit like Darkthrone to Elder, Orange Goblin to Uada“.

“Fools Gave Chase“, the album track we’re presenting today through the premiere of a lyric video, bears out these descriptions of how the music took shape, and  is a great example of the hybrid of sensations that the album as a whole so powerfully delivers. Not for naught is the album described as a release that will appeal to fans of Orange Goblin, Kvelertak, Motörhead, Entombed, Uada, and Black Breath.

 

 

By way of introduction to this particular song, we’ll turn back to David Rowlands:  “‘Fools Gave Chase’ is a snapshot of what this record is all about: it’s punky, got black metal influences, good old heavy groove and a mellow bit with a face-melter of a guitar solo. For me this song flows perfectly and is a real indication of where we’re heading as a band. Lyrically it deals with my contempt for current times and the state of the world falling apart around us. It’s about fighting back and carving your own path. Enjoy!”

David’s description of the flow of the song is maybe all you need, but (as usual) we can’t resist providing our own impressions.

The track has a great opening sequence, in which the band deliver a bleak, bruising riff, infiltrated by a little squirming maggot of a lead and propelled by bone-bruising drum battery. When drummer Andy Hunt launches into a head-moving punk gallop, the lead flares into an emanation of rising fire, and Rowlands spits his fury in a mix of livid shrieks and cruel roars. The band segment that pulse-pounding race with enormous grooves that prove to be even more bludgeoning than what was hinted at earlier.

Near the middle of this dynamic track, the band reveal a different side of their capabilities, and in doing so they create a sharp contrast with what precedes the interlude (and what follows it). While the song’s opening is fiery and fracturing, this substantial diversion is psyched-out and dreamlike. Composed of Nicholson’s slow, glistening guitar melody and Mike Collins‘ moody bass tones over a measured drum rhythm, the music creates a mesmerizing effect, and the more subdued (and anguished) vocals add to the interlude’s haunting and hallucinatory atmosphere. The extended guitar solo that caps the interlude is both scintillating and soulful, and completely gripping.

The band kick into high gear again for an electrifying finale that reprises both the intense, soaring fieriness of the song and its skull-busting brutishness. The compulsion to immediately go back and listen to it again is irresistible.

 

As with their debut EP and previous album, Hailz was recorded with Chris Fielding (Conan, Witchsorrow, Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard), this time at Foel studio.

Hailz is available for purchase now, both physically and digitally, via the links below. And you can catch Pist on stage at one of the following shows that will take place in the UK next year:

1st February 2020 – APF Records showcase – The Bread Shed – Manchester
19th March 2020 – Hammerfest – Great Yarmouth
20th March 2020 – The Dev – London
21st March 2020 – The Old Salutation Inn – Nottingham
6th June 2020 – Stonebaked Festival – Temple of Boom – Leeds

Below you’ll find the new video for “Fools Gave Chase“, plus the previously released video for “Mind Rotter” and a complete stream of the album.

BUY:
http://apfrecords.bigcartel.com/
http://pist.bandcamp.com/

PIST:
http://facebook.com/pistband