Official press release:
Southern California-based veteran sludge-rock trailblazers, -(16)-, return with their seventh full-length album. Entitled Lifespan Of A Moth, the offering is clearly the band’s heaviest, darkest, and most complex material to date.
Self-produced by -(16)- and recorded with Jeff Forrest (Cattle Decapitation, The Locust) at Doubletime Recording Studio in San Diego, California, Lifespan Of A Moth sees the band sounding uglier, rawer and more visceral than ever before. Down-tuned, feedback-driven riffs and bludgeoning rhythms violently clash with vocalist Chris Jerue‘s distorted, tortured howls across eight tracks of -(16)-‘s signature blend of hardcore punk, thrash, and sludge. Lifespan Of A Moth is the sound of a band that has spent twenty-five years wallowing in addiction and anguish, and will leave you feeling crushed and confronted by the negativity of existence.
Stereogum premiered the band’s debut single, “The Absolute Center Of A Pitch Black Heart”, issuing:
“The songwriting paradigm they established as far back as 1996’s Drop Out endures. Its ingredients: Fermented sludge riffs, antagonistic noise rock wailing, a dash of nimble thrash, and a whole lot of bad feelings…. This toxic stew foreshadowed the heterogenous sound popularized by the likes of Mastodon, High On Fire, Black Tusk, and so forth during the mid-aughts. -(16)- ironically fell dormant for a few years around the time that the seeds they planted finally bore fruit, but have found a fitting home in Relapse Records – the same label that launched the careers of many of -(16)-‘s descendants – for their post-reunion efforts. Lifespan Of A Moth, the third album in this phase of the band’s career, continues their lineage in especially scabrous form…. ‘The Absolute Center Of A Pitch Black Heart’ one of its up-tempo burners, strikes with more ferocity than most bands half -(16)-‘s age could – or do – muster.”
Listen to “The Absolute Center Of A Pitch Black Heart”, courtesy of Stereogum below:
Lifespan Of A Moth is set for release this July 15th via Relapse on CD/LP/Digital. Physical preorders via Relapse.com can be found HERE; digital preorders are available through the band’s Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION.
Lifespan Of A Moth track listing:
1. “Landloper”
2. “Peaches, Cream And The Placenta”
3. “The Morphinist”
4. “The Absolute Center Of A Pitch Black Heart”
5. “Gallows Humor”
6. “Secrets Of The Curmudgeon”
7. “Pastor In A Coma”
8. “George”
