Currents have surprise released a new 5-song EP, “All That Follows” on SharpTone Records. The Connecticut-based metalcore group premiered the opening track to that effort, “It Only Gets Darker“, this past July, with the likes of “My Severance“, “Making Circles“, “Can’t Turn Back” and “Rise & Fall” now joining it on digital service providers. A music video for the latter track has also just debuted.
Vocalist Brian Wille commented:
“‘All That Follows‘ is the end of The Death We Seek. These are some of our favorite songs thus far and the beginning of a new chapter for us. We kept this close to our hearts and trusted our guts on what we really wanted. These songs are an exercise of independence, experimentation and collaboration within the band to lengths we haven’t gone before.
Here, we explore disillusionment, inequality, betrayal, and the ambiguity of life and its purpose. This world can be both a great and terrible place; and good or bad, we pour all of those experiences into our music. While the result is rarely a happy story, sharing it all with you is always such a positive and cathartic experience. We’re proud to put this out into the world and to see you connect with it in your own way.”
A press release found Wille providing further insight:
‘In between non-stop touring, All That Follows came together. Once again, they worked with producer Ryan Leitru [We Came As Romans, Wolves At The Gate] on a handful of tracks, while Brian and Chris co-produced the rest of the material.
“For the EP, we really compiled some of our strongest songs that made sense together,” he goes on.
Currents teased this era with “It Only Gets Darker,” which instantly reeled in over 1.9 million Spotify streams. Among various highlights, “My Severance” evinces the band’s penchant for dynamics. Icy beeps pulsate across a violent chugging groove punctured by an ethereal arpeggio and glimmering harmonics. It climaxes on a cathartic clean chorus, “Locked in isolation, thrown away. This is my severance.”“It discusses how we’re taken advantage of by people who think they know better because they have more money than God and make whatever decisions they want,” he reveals. “They gain control of the government by lobbying. We have no way of combatting it unless we’re all together. So, you renounce your faith in the institution and stand up to it.”
“Making Circles” slips from a wave of guttural distortion into the undertow of fragile verses. The tension moves cyclically in a celestial rhythm as Brian sets the scene, “Making circles in the dark to find we’re clouded; we’re lost. No use counting on the stars to guide us over it, this constant motion.”
On the other end of the spectrum, “Can’t Turn Back” finds Currents in a crushing pocket. Guttural growls grate up against screeching guitar and a rumbling groove. Vitriol practically seeps through Brian’s words on his screams, “Hit the floor. What the fuck do you take me for?” All hell breaks loose, summoning a proclamation right from the gut, “Bow your head to this kingdom.”
“It’s a betrayal song,” he sighs. “It’s directed at a person who believes he’s on top of the world, but he doesn’t realize he’s sowing his own fate.”
The finale “Rise & Fall” revolves around a riff call-and-response, losing ground in a torrent of propulsive drums. The hook holds onto the vestiges of a crumbling institution codified in the refrain, “I can’t find what’s left for me besides another rise and fall. It took all that’s left of me and doubt is still in the way.” Emotion seethes on the bridge until a final bludgeoning breakdown.
“It ends with a bunch of questions,” he states. “Is this going to happen to us? What becomes of this? We’ve renounced our faith, but how does it end? Is there a second coming, the apocalypse, the singularity, or the afterlife? You don’t know how it’s going to shake out. There is only the rise and fall.”
However, Currents are still in the midst of their own quiet rise, and it’s not stopping.“For the most part, I take the worst things I can think of and put them in the music,” he concludes. “I pour a lot of hatred, sadness, frustration, confusion, and betrayal into Currents. What comes out is the opposite of what goes in though. When we play a show, people lose their minds, and they’re smiling. We’re trying to provide a healthy outlet.’
A European/UK tour as direct support to The Plot In You will launch this Friday, October 31st, with Saosin and Cane Hill completing the bill.
10/31 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
11/01 Antwerp, BEL – Trix
11/02 Leipzig, GER – Haus Auensee
11/03 Tilburg, NET – 013
11/05 Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy
11/06 London, UK – The Forum
11/07 Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy
11/08 Manchester, UK – Academy 1
11/10 Paris, FRA – Bataclan
11/11 Zurich, SWI – Xtra
11/12 Munich, GER – Zenith
11/13 Berlin, GER – Uber Eats Music Hall
11/14 Vienna, AUT – Gasometer
11/16 Cologne, GER – Palladium
11/17 Hamburg, GER – Inselpark Arena
11/18 Prague, CZE – Sasazu
11/19 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
Come December, they’ll be back out in the United States with Fit For A King, Spite and 156/Silence:
12/02 St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
12/03 Orlando, FL – House Of Blues
12/05 Houston, TX – Warehouse
12/06 San Antonio, TX – Vibes Event Center
12/07 Dallas, TX – The Bomb Factory
12/09 Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom (feat. Invent Animate, 156/Silence and fromjoy)
12/10 Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation (feat. Invent Animate, 156/Silence and fromjoy)
After that, Currents have plans for a pair of holiday shows. On top of performing at August Burns Red‘s ‘Christmas Burns Red‘ at Freedom Hall in Lancaster, PA on December 12th, Currents will be staging their own holiday show a day later. That festive concert will feature Invent Animate, Wind Walkers, PSYCHO-FRAME and fromjoy, and will be held December 13th at The Dome in Wallingford, CT.
