Battalions: A State Of Decay
“I don’t trust people in suits, shirts & ties and shiny shoes – they’re mostly crooks.” That’s BATTALIONS‘ vocalist Phil Wilkinson. If you’ve heard the band’s new record King Of A Dead World, you’ll know that their brand of sludge metal is imbued with a vitriol and disdain for the state of the modern world. “The title came from an article our bassist Matt Dennett was reading about world leaders ruining things for normal people – war, the rich getting richer, poor people struggling, profit over life, criminal activity in power, corrupt politics, the plundering of Earth’s resources. The article ended with ‘who wants to be the king of a dead world?’ which immediately stuck with me.”
As it turns out, they have brilliantly captured the essence of public perception on the topic, garnering critical praise left and right. “We knew we had a good album on our hands, but were in no way expecting the response we’ve had so far. It’s been absolutely mind-blowing!” Phil says. In fact, in the decade that BATTALIONS has been a band, they’ve never seen a response like this around their own work.
“As with any scene or genre things fluctuate, but I’d say, within the UK at least, that sludge has only gone from strength to strength. Especially at the moment with new bands cropping up all the time. The home of that here is APF Records; Andy [Paul Field, the founder of APF Records] has such a great ear, he’s signed most of the best bands of our island.” Indeed, APF Records now counts the likes of MASTIFF, THE HYENA KILL and VIDEO NASTIES among their ranks, and having signed BATTALIONS for 2018’s Forever Marching Backwards, they were able to continue elevating homegrown talent and individual band outputs. In fact, for King Of A Dead World, it opened the door to work with Joe Clayton at Nø Studio.
“I knew he had the same mindset as me with regards to punishing hardcore sounds, but still with clarity in the recording,” Phil explains. “This was further helped when we heard the MASTIFF album [2021’s Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth] he’d recently recorded as we’re local mates and always playing each other our new music.” Until now, BATTALIONS had worked with Chris Fielding, producer for the likes of CONAN, which allowed them to nail their heavy, slabdragging sludge sound. But now shifting gears to PIJN‘s Joe Clayton, the band has been able to explore and conquer a broader, lusher quality that still packs a punch.
And this was just another moving piece of the puzzle for the band, who had a personnel change behind the drums during the pandemic. “Simon Harrison came on board after 10+ years of not drumming. An old friend of our guitarist Pete [Cross]‘s, who talked Si‘s wife into pushing Si to try out for us. He turned up to the first practice and smashed out six or seven of our older songs and we hired him there and then.” The final change for the band came in the form of their choice of artist for King Of A Dead World‘s striking album artwork. Phil explains, “our long time collaborator Daggers For Teeth was unavailable at the time. Once again serendipity was on our side as we completely lucked out by commissioning a local artist – James Fenwick – who has done some of the most stark imagery of our career.”
So after such a tumultuous and productive period, what comes next? Do you sit back and relax, or dive headlong into yet more work? As it turns out, the answer is a bit of both. “We have a few more shows left for 2022, then we’re planning many more dates for 2023, along with beginning work on our next record,” says Phil. “We aren’t a band to sit on our hands, and our Pete pulls riffs out of his pocket like magic, so we always have a little something we are working on. Before all of that though, we will be having a very well earned little rest over Christmas before we hit it hard again next year.”
In an ever changing world, BATTALIONS seem to be setting out to be the one constant. Everything is better with a soundtrack, and we can live safe in the knowledge that this band will keep on giving us the venom and contempt to suit the mood.
King Of A Dead World is out now via APF Records.
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