Matriarchs are metallic hardcore maniacs who captured our attention with a bevy of singles over the last year. Now they are gearing up to drop their brand new album, Year Of The Rat and it is an absolute monster!
The album is full of triumphant hat. This band initially emerged from the global hardcore scene, and have gone on to impress with this fresh take on the genre! This new record is a huge step up for Matriarchs.
Drummer Ben Levi says:
Personally, this record is a lot of things for me. Namely redemption. The first incarnation of Matriarchs was rife with problems, many of the members were unable to tour…but having had a falling out with our original vocalist due to personal and artistic differences, made the future of the band extremely uncertain. I have been working on the music for this since Scandalous Jointz was completed, but I had trouble finding the right voice to match what I had in my head as to what I wanted to communicate sonically.
Naturally, I drifted towards other projects like Cutthroat and Fate Destroyed and grew a lot working on those projects. But Matriarchs as of last year was still in the back of my mind. Like many, this pandemic has taken its toll on me, as an independent business owner that caters to patrons of live entertainment and as a touring musician, two things that made up a big part of my identity were basically ripped away from me for the time being.
It started to affect my mental health, not being able to do the things that I was good at, feeling unsure about how I was going to provide for the people that rely on me every day. Then they went ahead and closed the gym and that really got to me as working out is another outlet I use to manage my mental health issues. For me personally, it's almost as if the universe was distancing me from every distraction and excuse I could possibly have to not make music. So I looked inside myself and spent a lot of time behind my instruments… all of them and I got to work.
Once I had the album done, again it was almost serendipitous. I went on TikTok for the first time in my life as I had heard it was the next juggernaut in social media marketing. Low and behold while I was posting my own content and hashtagging it, I stumbled on this pixie with the voice of a demon and the energy and attitude of any front person I have ever enjoyed watching live. I was intimidated as she has a pretty impressive career and following, had no idea who I was and I just randomly took a shot and messaged her.
What started as a featured spot on one song as I had done with a few vocalists last year turned into us doing the whole record and her officially joining the band. I am very grateful for her and for the fact that the response to this record has been pretty positive so far. Mario of Upstate Records has been super supportive and has been busting ass to promote it, he's behind it. Blood Blast has been awesome and helpful. I just feel a lot of love on this record and I'm hoping that sonically we convey the sort of angst that comes from absolute uncertainty, about everything, and an acceptance of that and finding the power within that.
Vocalist K adds:
Starting off, Matriarchs is the first full band lineup I've been a part of since 2014 and this opportunity is huge for me. I'm grateful for it. When the pandemic started I decided to dive into working on some solo music and created an EP under K Enagonio called Pandemic, about the pandemic and how it's affected our society. Myself and Rian Cunningham teamed up and we got seven features to be on the six songs of the EP. Simultaneously, Rian and I started doing covers of the trending sounds on tiktok and my Tiktok, KtheFemaleScreamer, started to blow up.
One day I got a DM from a guy named Ben Levi asking me if I wanted to feature on a song and I immediately said yes, because I love collaborating on music more than anything. He sent me over the song and I think I wrote the lyrics and tracked it like the very next day. When I sent him the vocals he then asked me if I wanted to feature on another track and I said, "of course!" His requests for song features kept coming in until he finally asked me if I wanted to be the new front person for the band. I was blown away that he asked me that and I was floored, because it meant that one day, after this pandemic, that I'd get to go on tour with a band as a vocalist and not just as a content creator, which I have been doing for years. I ended up reworking some of the older songs he had in his back pocket and before I knew it we had a full record!
Year of the Rat is special for me, because it's my first full length! I've only ever done EPs with bands in the past and with my solo music, so getting to do a full length meant the world to me. Most of the songs relate to the things that go on inside my head. As a bipolar person and someone with astonishing nightmares, I have a lot to write about. I was heavily inspired by the instrumentals and got to let out my inner monologue through these songs.
One of my favorite songs on the record is Sleep, because I know so many people who can relate to it. Nightmares and sleep paralysis can weigh heavily on people's minds and I wanted to talk about that topic in a song for so long and Sleep gave me the chance to do so. The music video for it is also super cool and Cameron Burns absolutely crushed it on the animation!
I've also never been signed to a label so getting to work with Upstate has been a really cool experience. It's nice to have a team that believes in what we are doing and what we are about and I can't wait to take this music on the road so we can continue to connect with people.
Much love, and enjoy Year of The Rat!
Listen now:
