Year Of The Knife Drops Surprise EP ,"Dust To Dust"

 

YEAR OF THE KNIFE (YOTK) have surprise released a stunning new EP 'Dust To Dust' today, Thursday 2nd February, via the ever excellent Pure Noise Records (Knocked Loose, State Champs, Drug Church). The EP is the bands first new music since the release of their hugely received album 'Internal Incarceration' that was released in August 2020.

The three-song EP, 'Dust To Dust', was produced and engineered by, Taylor Young, (Nails, God's Hate, Twitching Tongues) clocking in at a blistering seven minutes, and it finds YOTK continuing to push their huge, abrasive and unapologetically hard hitting sound forward, tapping into new corners of the heavy music landscape while not losing an ounce of the ferocity that’s endeared them to a legion of underground listeners.

“Being straight edge is something that has always connected and driven the band, and that is still heavily present,” vocalist Madison Watkins explains. “Building from that thematic foundation, my lyrics are through the lens of my own experiences and demons."

Speaking about the new EP, Madison explains, "The Dust to Dust EP is a product of everything we’ve been inspired by since our last record. We used the unexpected downtime to focus all of our energy on writing, and wanted to combine our existing sound with these new influences to push our boundaries and make our most pissed songs yet. This EP is an evolution in the direction of our sound while staying true to the core of our inspiration and values. We recorded with Taylor Young at the Pit in Van Nuys, CA. Everyone clicked right away and found that we had the same direction in mind for the production of the songs. Taylor was incredible to work with, and after admiring so many of his projects (Nails, Twitching Tongues, and Ruckus to name a few), it was great to work with him and hear his input on our music."

Going into bit more detail on the tracks on 'Dust To Dust', Madison breaks down some of their lyrical meaning, "Ctrl+C is about societal pressure to be perfect, and chasing an unattainable goal that is sold by the media. I wrote on my experiences of feeling that I had to sacrifice my body and mind in order to fit what was desired or expected. The lyrics describe the decision to break from those pressures and find yourself whether people like you for it or not. 'Victim' is about people that can’t see past themselves and their own problems and pain to empathise with others. We can’t help the hand we are dealt in life, but we can decide what we do with those cards. Some people use their circumstances as an excuse to mistreat and manipulate others, and to garner pity. I wrote the lyrics to 'Victim' while listening to a lot of Irate. 'Dust to Dust' is about the frustration and pain of loving someone who struggles with addiction, but doesn’t want to get better. This is an agony that can be difficult to understand unless you’ve felt it first hand. It was really heavy to write these lyrics, because there is a lot of guilt associated with the anger I feel. More than anything I empathise and sympathise with addicts, but that understanding doesn’t stop the pain that’s been inflicted either. It’s the first song that we wrote since Internal Incarceration. Aaron had been listening to a lot of Dystopia and crust punk, which drove the fast, aggressive direction of the song."

"Dust To Dust" is out now on all streaming platforms, vinyl pre-orders are available here.

"DUST TO DURST" EP Tracklisting:

CTRL+C    

VICTIM    

DUST TO DUST

YOTK playing with Unearth and Misery Index

1st April - Junkyard, Dortmund, Germany

2nd April - Trix, Antwerp, Belgium

3rd April - Backstage, Munchen, Germany

4th April - Crash, Freiburg, Germany

5th April - Dynamo, Eindhoven, Netherlands

6th April - Corporation, Sheffield, UK

7th April - The Warehouse,Leeds, UK

8th April - Islington Assembly Hall, London, UK

9th April - The Black Lab, Lille, France

10th April - La Machine Du Moulin Rouge, Paris, France

11th April -  Im Wizemann, Stuttgart, Germany

12th April - Café Central, Weinhein, Germany

13th April - Gladhouse, Cottbus, Germany

14th April - Zollhaus, Leer, Germany

15th April - AJZ Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany

16th April - Barrak Music Club, Ostrava, Czech

17th April - S036, Berlin, Germany

18th April - Bahnhof Pauli, Hamburg, Germany

19th April - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, Denmark

20th April - Musikens Hus, Gothenburg, Sweden

21st April - Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm, Sweden

Share on Google Plus