Monster Magnet announce new covers album ‘A Better Dystopia’

March 26, 2021 James Weaver

MONSTER MAGNET have announced a new covers album!

Titled A Better Dystopia, the upcoming album from the American psychedelic rock band is a curated collection of 60s and 70s proto-metal and late-era psych obscurity covers and is scheduled to be released in May this year, via Napalm Records.

Speaking about the upcoming covers album, vocalist/guitarist Dave Wyndorf says, “we all agreed that we would be bored out of our minds within a month of lockdown. MONSTER MAGNET loves the road. It’s a lifestyle. So, I considered our options. Rather than panhandle on the internet, hawking masks and Zoom-rocking practice sessions for dollars, I suggested we record a ‘bunker record’. A total DIY affair (band only) recorded and mixed in Bob Pantella’s small but potent Freak Shop Studios/rehearsal space right here in New Jersey. But what to record?

I didn’t feel much like writing, but working on anything was better than watching the news as hospitals filled up, people died, and American politics went bat-shit crazy. The world roared “Dystopia! Apocalypse! Revolution!” I’d heard those words before, and they brought to mind my childhood in the late 60’s/early 70’s… and the music… and short playlist of songs (just one of many) that I’d been carrying around with me on my whatever device to listen to before shows. Of course, these tunes have also been in my head for more or less my whole life. These were not the popular hits of the time. This was like a playlist from the fourth dimension… strange bits of musical obscurity, mostly dredged up from that inglorious and freaky ‘twilight zone’ time that preceded arena rock, heavy metal, reggae and disco. A no-man’s land of hard rock that still had remnants of psychedelia and garage punk but had abandoned any notion of ‘flower power’ or frat house fun. And of course, they rocked. Yeah, these songs were it.

The great bands whose music we lovingly interpret here were (and some still are) on the fringe, underrated, and in our opinion, really, really cool. I think that’s reason enough for us to do this album. Furthermore, A Better Dystopia is a collection of songs that I think reflect (knowingly or unknowingly) a paranoid time in history, but also deflect that same paranoia by owning it, fully. And of course, it ROCKS.”

Alongside the announcement of the new covers album, the band have released the first song from the upcoming release; a cover of POO-BAH‘s Mr. Destroyer.

Watch the official lyric video for Mr. Destroyer here:

Also, you can view both the track list and artwork for the upcoming covers album below:

Track List:

1. The Diamond Mine
2. Born to Go
3. Epitaph for a Head
4. Solid Gold Hell
5. Be Forewarned
6. Mr. Destroyer
7. When the Wolf Sits
8. Death
9. Situation
10. It’s Trash
11. Motorcycle (Straight to Hell)
12. Learning to Die
13. Welcome to the Void – Bonus Track