Having taken their visceral fear and loathing to Glastonbury, Download, 2000trees and Hellfest, Empire State Bastard descend further into darkness as they unleash the new track The Looming. It follows the band’s recent singles Harvest and Stutter as they power towards the September 1 release of their eagerly anticipated debut album Rivers of Heresy.
The Looming is an oppressive slow crush in which Mike Vennart’s grinding, maximum fuzz stoner rock riffs take on an hypnotic intensity as the track unfolds, its apocalyptic tone becoming more sinister as Simon Neil layers feral vocals with guttural death metal growls. It’s the final song on the Rivers of Heresy album as well as the band’s regular set closer for good reason – what could possibly follow it?
The band stated, “The end is nigh! The end is looming! Fuck what they told ya!”
