Australian deathcore wrecking crew A NIGHT IN TEXAS are back, and apparently theyโve decided that everyoneโs eardrums have been living far too comfortably lately. ๐๐ฅ
The Brisbane extreme-metal quartet have released their fifth full-length album, The Darkest Side of Humanity, via Unique Leader Records, delivering ten tracks of technical brutality, suffocating atmosphere and enough riff-based violence to turn your morning coffee into pre-workout.
Released on 4 September, The Darkest Side of Humanity sees A Night In Texas diving headfirst into some seriously grim territory โ both musically and lyrically.
And alongside the album comes another fresh slab of punishment in the form of new single โRot From Withinโ.
๐ฉธ โRot From Withinโ Takes Aim at Cultural Decay
This isnโt brutality simply for brutalityโs sake.
โRot From Withinโ digs into corporate greed, cultural decay and the gradual erosion of identity in the pursuit of profit and so-called progress.
The band explain:
โโRot From Withinโ is a bleak examination of cultural decay, corporate greed, and the slow erosion of identity in the pursuit of profit and progress.โ
The song imagines a society increasingly disconnected from its roots, where heritage, tradition and meaning are sacrificed in favour of consumption, convenience and wealth.
A Night In Texas continue:
โAs history is rewritten and values are traded for convenience, the song questions what remains when the foundations that once defined us have been stripped away.โ
Cheery stuff, then. ๐
But when youโre delivering the message through crushing riffs, relentless drums and throat-shredding deathcore, subtlety isnโt exactly the order of the day.
The band describe the track as a warning about humanityโs willingness to sacrifice its principles for short-term gain, ultimately suggesting that the most dangerous collapse isnโt necessarily caused by an outside force.
Sometimes the rot starts from within.
๐ Lovely.
๐ฅ The Bandโs Darkest Record Yet
A Night In Texas arenโt messing around with the description of this one.
The Darkest Side of Humanity is being billed as the bandโs darkest and most extreme release to date, combining the rapid-fire aggression of their established deathcore sound with elements harking back to their earlier material.
Across its ten tracks youโll find blistering speed, enormous heaviness and an oppressive atmosphere designed to make your headphones file a workplace grievance.
The album explores some equally weighty subjects, including death, suffering, mortality, instinct, deception and the darker corners of human existence.
Thereโs also an examination of humanityโs primal nature and the unseen forces influencing our thoughts and actions.
Basically, itโs not exactly something youโre putting on while blowing up balloons for Nanโs birthday party.
Unless Nan absolutely loves deathcore.
In which case, legend. ๐ค๐
๐๏ธ Serious Heavyweight Production
The record was produced by A Night In Texas guitarist Cory Judd, before being mixed and mastered by Christian Donaldson.
Thatโs a name extreme-metal fans may recognise from his work with the likes of Cryptopsy, Ingested and Despised Icon.
And when youโre making an album designed to sound like the gates of hell have just been kicked open by a bulldozer, thatโs a pretty tidy bloke to have behind the desk.
๐ฟ The Darkest Side of Humanity Tracklist
- Oblivions Dominion
- Rot From Within
- Fed To Death
- Metastatic Misery
- Evolved From Hate
- When The Sun Burns Out
- A Primal Conditioning
- The Chronicles Of Nihilism (feat. Rheese Peters of Babirusa)
- The Infinite Maw (feat. Ryan Vail of Synestia/Larcenia Roe)
- The Darkest Side Of Humanity
Those song titles alone sound like the playlist Satan sticks on when heโs had a particularly stressful Monday. ๐ฅ๐
๐ค Early Reviews Are Already Rolling In
The international metal press has wasted little time getting stuck into the record.
Metal Talk praised the album as a showcase of just how devastating and creative the bandโs technical deathcore has become, while Metal Epidemic declared that A Night In Texas have โnailed it againโ.
Meanwhile, Insane Blog highlighted the bandโs ability to continually raise the stakes, reinforcing their position among Australiaโs most formidable extreme-metal outfits.
Blade Winchester described the record as an โabsolutely relentless dose of modern deathcoreโ, while Loud Mag pointed towards the strength of Australiaโs current heavy scene โ with A Night In Texas providing yet another example of why the countryโs extreme-metal output is absolutely flying.
And theyโre not wrong.
Australia keeps producing bands capable of making speakers reconsider their life choices. ๐ฆ๐บ๐
๐ค A NIGHT IN TEXAS
The current line-up is:
Sam Cameron โ Vocals
Cory Judd โ Guitar
Thomas Williams โ Guitar
Chris Whitbread โ Drums
๐ The Riff Report Saysโฆ
If your preferred flavour of metal involves technical riffing, savage vocals, blast-beat warfare and the musical equivalent of being repeatedly launched through a brick wall, The Darkest Side of Humanity deserves your attention.
A Night In Texas arenโt trying to soften the edges here.
Theyโre sharpening them.
This is ten tracks of bleak, furious and uncompromising modern deathcore, wrapped around some equally uncomfortable observations about humanity itself.
Heavy music from Australia is absolutely thriving right now, and A Night In Texas sound determined to make sure theyโre standing right in the middle of the carnage.
Turn it up.
Warn the neighbours.
Move anything breakable away from the speakers.
And brace yourself, mun. ๐ค๐๐ฅ
The Darkest Side of Humanity is out now via Unique Leader Records.
