Metalcore outfit and recent MNRK Heavy signee Mouth for War will release its second full-length, “Bleed Yourself,” on Oct. 27, 2023. The band has shared the cover art, track listing and first single and video, “Saturate Me.” Pre-order the album here.
“It’s one of the most emotional songs on this body of work,” vocalist Trae Roberts said. “You feel like you’re relentlessly being dragged down and can’t go out of this hole. It has a similar meaning to ‘Under the Gun,’ but the rhythm builds differently.”
Vido director Errick Easterday said: “I’m thankful the band has continued to bring me back to direct videos for every release so far, and with this one I wanted to take a step in a different direction than we have in the past. We filmed the performance and narrative with a few months in between, and that time gave the song some space to grow its own story around it. It ultimately landed on this fun early 2000s-style horror. We really wanted to channel metal videos we watched as kids where the narratives are loose and weird, the colors are bright and crazy, and the band members take the spotlight. Inspiration on my end comes from a lot of music videos from bands of the era like Underoath, Every Time I Die, Bring Me the Horizon, Lamb of God; as well as movies like ‘Slither,’ ‘The Collector’ and ‘Jennifer’s Body.'”
In early 2023, the band decamped to Chicago to record with producer Pete Grossmann at BrickTop Recording. Ultimately, the setting and circumstances enabled the musicians to hyper focus.
“It was the first time we left home and stayed together somewhere,” vocalist Trae Roberts said. “The weather was insane in Chicago, so we didn’t really leave the studio. However, we were able to get more in tune with each other, have fun and make memories around this record. We built a unified piece together.”
The band offered its first taste of these recording sessions with the single “Under the Gun” in August.
“The goal was for every measure and breakdown to smack you in the face,” Roberts said. “We thought it was the perfect track to introduce the new Mouth for War. It’s about feeling like someone you lost is holding you down. You can’t properly grieve and move past what’s happening. It’s like you’re put under the gun. You don’t want to lose those memories, but you want the pressure to stop.”
“Bleed Yourself” will be released on CD, LP and digital formats.
“Bleed Yourself” track listing:
1. Roses in Place of Your Ashes
2. The Plight of Those You Left Behind
3. Captivated
4. No Grace
5. Taste of Steel
6. In Lieu of Flowers
7. The Devil
8. Saturate Me
9. Under the Gun
10. Talking to God
11. Shattered Self
12. The Rush of Seeing Red
13. Bleed Yourself
Tour dates:
10/13/2023 Snow And Flurry Fest – Minneapolis, MN
11/18/2023 Flyover Fest – Tulsa, OK
11/25/2023 Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO – “Bleed Yourself” record release show
Forged in 2019, Mouth for War put out its debut EP, “An Ear Kept to the Ground,” and immediately sunk its teeth into the world of touring that was unfortunately cut short by COVID-19. While the pandemic dragged other bands under, Mouth for War used the downtime to formulate its debut LP, “Life Cast in Glass,” a collection of grieving songs. Released on 1126 Records, the record helped propel the band’s notoriety and curated its next steps into becoming a national act. The band has since taken on the entire United States with bands such as Bodysnatcher, Boundaries and Zao, and has shared stages with Knocked Loose, Malevolence and others.
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