(written by Islander)
Brainwave hail from Wellington, New Zealand, and they devote themselves to the kind of crossover music that blends thrash and hardcore, drawing influence from the likes of Drain, Mindforce, and Forced Order. Now a quintet, they’ll be releasing a record named Ill Intent on October 22nd, which follows up a sequence of short releases that began in 2020. In the band’s words:
“It’s an extremely personal record, albeit one set against the backdrop of a world tearing itself apart. It’s about hopelessness, the pain of loss, and the brutality of everyday life. But it’s also about conquering the summit, overcoming both yourself and your detractors.”
To help introduce Ill Intent to fans of heavy music (and this music is very heavy indeed), what we’ve got for you today is the premiere of a song from the new album named “Lost My Way“.
We’ll begin by sharing vocalist Rob Thompson’s comment about the song:
“‘Lost My Way‘ channels the rage of feeling disorientated and directionless, of not achieving your potential and the sense that every way forward is blocked. It’s extremely personal, but in our atomised modern world, it’s also a sentiment that everyone has felt at some point.”
The song itself is a compulsive groove monster, anchored by a titanically throbbing rhythmic pulse, something like the drive of an enormous piston. Sore-neck syndrome is a risk with this one, so get it loose before you listen.
The music is also furious as well as bludgeoning, led by raw and raging vocals that are cutting enough to cause wounds and inflamed enough to then cauterize them. The riffing also erupts in bursts of blaring and bleak intensity, with shrill flickering leads in the mix, augmented by gut-slugging bass drums and knee-capping snare-beats.
The band do switch up that hammering groove as the song unfolds — and letting the bass carry the throb by itself near the end is a very nice touch, one more thing (among many things) about the track that really got its hooks in this listener’s head.
Brainwave‘s current lineup consists of Rob Thompson (vocals), Joram Adams (guitar/vocals), Ian Moore (guitar), Caleb Webb (bass), and Angus Crowe (drums). Ill Intent also includes guest contributions from Aaron McPhail (Lucre), Arnold Kim (Molosser), Sam Andy (Martial Law), and Luke Manson (Xile), while Ateo Buhne (Dole Bludger/Star Time) provided auxiliary percussion.
Ill Intent brought Brainwave into close partnership with Lewis Noke-Edwards, who handled producer, mixing, and mastering duties from Melbourne. Additional engineering came from TK at The Armory for drums, while Brainwave member Joram Adams oversaw guitar and vocal production.
Cam Parker created the album’s eye-catching cover art, which connects with the themes of the music, “balancing despair and defiance in one image.”
Ill Intent includes 10 mostly compact tracks and nearly a half-hour of music. It’s available for pre-order now, and via the Bandcamp link below you can easily listen to three other songs from the album.
PRE-ORDER:
https://brainwave.nz
https://brainwavehv.bandcamp.com/album/ill-intent
FOLLOW:
Spotify: https://mog.bfan.link/ill-intent
Instagram: https://instagram.com/brainwavehv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brainwavehv