Mastiff have announced their forthcoming album, Deprecipice, will be released on 22nd March via MNRK Heavy. The new release features an onslaught of special guests including Ethan Lee McCarthy from Primitive Man, Harry Nott from Burner, Dan James from XIII and Rob Scott from Yersin.
The band have introduced the caustic new album by sharing a very special video for their first single, 'Serrated ft. Harry Nott (Burner)'.
Watch the video for 'Serrated ft Harry Nott (Burner)' here: https://youtu.be/BnDtOP9IIOQ
Pre-order Deprecipice here: https://mastiff.ffm.to/deprecipice
The first single that Mastiff have unleashed from Deprecipice is the furiously aggressive 'Serrated' which features blistering guest vocals from Harry Nott, the vocalist for South London’s Burner, whose debut album It All Returns to Nothing was one of the hottest debuts of 2023 featuring in Metal Hammer 10 Best Death Metal Albums of 2023 & 50 Best Albums of 2023, released on Church Road Records. Also appearing on the new single, ripping a Slayer inspired guest solo, is Dan James, guitarist in Hull band XIII, who played with Mastiff on their 2023 tour with theatrical metallers, Avatar.
Commenting on the new single, vocalist Jim Hodge said: “Lyrically the track is about the ‘bullsh*t machine’, people blowing smoke up your a*se but you try to stay grounded. It’s too easy to fall foul of the reverse of imposter syndrome. We met Harry and the Burner boys when they came to Hull when they were supporting Employed to Serve. It turned out Burner were fans of us and after about 30 seconds of them playing we all became some of their biggest fans too.”
Adds guest vocalist Harry Nott (Burner): “'Serrated' is a relentless track and the vibe clicked instantly - I went into the studio and smashed it in a couple of takes with some quickly penned lyrics. Mastiff are the epitome of darkness, so I went hard on some apocalyptic imagery.”
Everything Mastiff does is in the name of intensity. Since forming amid the misery of Kingston-upon-Hull in 2013, the five-piece have crashed extreme metal, sludge and hardcore together to create the most brutal sonic onslaughts possible, all in the name of keeping their music fresh, raw and seething.
Signing to MNRK Heavy three years ago, Mastiff’s commitment to blunt-force aggression remains untempered. Their 2021 album, Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth, was described by Blabbermouth’s Dom Lawson as a “horrifying slab of disgust” and “a sustained scream in the face of uncontrollable madness”. Now comes its long-anticipated follow-up: Deprecipice – an album that, somehow, smacks even harder than anything this band have unchained before, produced by longtime collaborator Joe Clayton (Wallowing, Ithaca, Tuskar) at Manchester’s No Studio. The beguiling artwork that runs throughout the album is by Paul Phillips at the award winning True Spilt Milk Designs, another long time collaborator with the band.
“We’ve gone quite a lot towards a hardcore sound,” says Hodge. “Where the last one was more death metal, this one’s a lot more staccato: a lot more defined, riff-wise.”
Unlike so many of their extreme metal peers right now, though, Mastiff didn’t source this rejuvenated savagery from the anxieties and frustrations of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the lockdowns ended and real life started to resume in 2021 and 2022, Hodge and Lee noticed the spirits of the world around them lifting. Feelings of trauma and isolation were beginning to enter people’s rear-view mirrors – and it was an overcoming that the duo couldn’t relate to. Lee was mourning the loss of his mother, while Hodge realised he was still grieving over the death of his five-day-old son, Isaac, in 2010.
“The album’s called Deprecipice, and that pretty much sums up where me and James were when we wrote it,” says the singer. “We were both standing back on the edge of a depressive void.You have to keep that primal feeling,” Hodge continues. “I think, if you take too much time, you start to second-guess yourself. We try to be as true to ourselves as we can.”
With Deprecipice, Mastiff have made a magnum opus that bleeds with genuine pain. As earnest as it is ferocious, it’s already an album of the year candidate for a year that’s only just beginning.
Mastiff hit the road in March touring the UK, including London’s legendary The Black Heart with North East extreme metal outfit Yersin. Pick up tickets here.
Tour dates:
22 Mar: Hull, Polar Bear
23 Mar: Glasgow, Audio
24 Mar: Edinburgh, Bannermans
27 Mar: London, The Black Heart
28 Mar: Brighton, Green Door Store
29 Mar: Bristol, Crofters Rights
30 Mar: Birmingham, Devils Dog
31 Mar: Nottingham, Rough Trade
Mastiff are:
Jim Hodge – vocals
James Lee Ross – guitar/vocals
Phil Johnson - guitar
Dan Dolby – bass
Michael Shepherd – drums
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/mastiffhchc
https://twitter.com/Mastiffhchc
https://www.instagram.com/mastiffhchc/
https://www.mnrkheavy.com
About MNRK Music Group
MNRK Music Group is one of the largest independent music companies in the world, with recording, music publishing, and management divisions operating in every major music market. MNRK is committed to discovering and guiding top music creators and artists and works with some of the greatest musical talent, including The Lumineers and Pitbull, the music publishing catalog of Chuck Berry, plus premier music companies Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang. The company’s music department services Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning producers. Its catalog across divisions consists of 54,000 music tracks, including multiple GRAMMY winners and platinum-selling hits.
