BLK OPS couldn’t have known that their new song “Truth Fuckery” would be premiering on the day after the U.S. president bombastically threatened to broil North Korea with “fire and fury”. Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time.
“Truth Fuckery” is one of four BLK OPS tracks on their side of a new split with San Diego’s Cave Bastard that will be released on August 25 by Accident Prone Records (from Portland, Oregon). It’s the second of the tracks by this Austin band (whose lineup includes members of Kill the Client, Clrvoyant, and Pornohelmüt) to be revealed from the split, the first of which (“Hallucinogenic Bomb Vest”) we described as “explosively battering”, yet with “memorable strands of desolate melody” that “have an un-real quality, like the soundtrack to a waking nightmare”.
I don’t know for sure what BLK OPS thinks about the current saber-rattling White House apparatus, which includes more generals than a junta, but I can guess. Here’s their comment about the subject of “Truth Fuckery”:
Truth Fuckery is about media manipulation and propaganda used by presidents to justify profit wars. It’s primarily aimed at “faux” news and their need to feed the war machine of the industrial military complex. It’s saying whatever puppet president is in “power” should pick up the sword and shield and lead us into battle if they’re going to generate profits off conflict.
The anger manifested in those thoughts comes through loud and clear in the music. The dominant riff, which is coated in some toxic and corrosive substance, pulses with an urgent and violent energy; the drums batter and bruise; and Champ Morgan’s vocals are as bloody raw as busted knuckles after a back-alley brawl (it’s tough to resist the impulse to howl TRUTH FUCKERY! right along with Morgan, but you’d lose your voice for a month if you tried to match that sound).
The song has other qualities, too — but none of them any prettier or more complacent than the storming rage that launches the track. It puts your teeth on edge with a flurry of twisted, demented notes, and it ends in a bleak and brutal bout of skull pounding.
Noise metal, grind, doom, and other ingredients (including fury) provide the fuel for BLK OPS‘ barrage of sound. The effect is adrenalizing, cathartic… and well-timed.
The BLK OPS / Cave Bastard split LP includes more than twenty-five minutes of sonic destruction, and with every passing minute it digs its hooks deeper into the listener’s head (and throat). It features cover art by Varises Otak. BLK OPS’ side of the record was recorded and mixed by Travis Bonner (Venomous Maximus, Ancient VVisdom).
Below you’ll find the band’s line-up, the split’s track list, and useful links. After the track stream, you’ll also find the current list of dates for a tour being scheduled by the bands to follow the split’s release; more dates will be added. And go HERE to check out a track by Cave Bastard (they’ll be revealing a second track next week).
BLK OPS:
Champ Morgan – vocals, noise, theremin
Neil Barrett – drums, samples
Mark Key – guitars, vocals
TRACK LIST:
Side A: BLK OPS
1. Hallucinogenic Bomb Vest
2. The Temple Of My Own Power
3. Truth Fuckery
4. Suicide-Laced Sugar Cubes
Side B: CAVE BASTARD
1. Vatos Ciegos
2. Hobocide
3. Violent Perpetuator
4. Red Star
PRE-ORDER:
https://accidentpronerecords.bandcamp.com/album/blk-ops-cave-bastard-split
BLK OPS:
https://www.facebook.com/blkopspsywar
https://blkops.bandcamp.com
ACCIDENT PRONE RECORDS:
https://www.accidentprone.com
https://accidentpronerecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/accidentpronerecords
CAVE BASTARD / BLK OPS Tour Dates:
8/24/2017 TBA – Tucson, AZ *
8/25/2017 Rockhouse Bar & Grill – El Paso, TX *
8/26/2017 Faust Tavern – San Antonio, TX #
8/27/2017 The Lost Well – Austin, TX #
8/28/2017 Reno’s Chop Shop – Dallas, TX #
8/29/2017 TBA – Lubbock/Amarillo, TX #
8/30/2017 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM *
8/31/2017 Masters Chambers – Phoenix, AZ *
9/01/2017 Omniscient Fest Vol. II – Moreno Valley, CA *
* CAVE BASTARD only
# CAVE BASTARD and BLK OPS
This is gnarly as fuck! A great god damn blend of elements there, indeed.