New England extreme metal powerhouse ESCUELA GRIND will release its new album, “Dreams On Algorithms”, on October 18 via MNRK Heavy. Recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’s GodCity studio with producer Kurt Ballou and mastered by Nick Townsend (Dr. Dre, Betty Davis),the record is the highly anticipated follow-up to ESCUELA GRIND‘s celebrated 2022 full-length debut, “Memory Theater”, a recording hailed as “an opus of extremity” by The New York Times.
Speaking on the album title “Dreams On Algorithms”, vocalist Katerina Economou says: “We wanted to write an album that identifies what it’s like to consume in this era we live in: what we receive through our phones, the social media landscape, and personalized algorithms, and how it is translated by our subconscious. I think most people can relate to something in their online sphere infecting their dreams. This transfer was something we really wanted to expand on, and all of the songs have themes relating to dream analysis and technology.”
In sync with the new album announcement, ESCUELA GRIND today drops the new single and video “Turbulence”, which showcases clean vocals over an earworm chorus — a first for ESCUELA GRIND — without pulling away from unhinged brutality. Watch the “Turbulence” video, directed by Michael Jari Davidson (ALICE IN CHAINS),below.
“I had the idea for the ‘Turbulence’ title during a plane ride where I thought I was actually gonna die,” says ESCUELA GRIND drummer Jesse Fuentes. “My mind was fixated on landing and playing the next show. It helped me cope, and then it kept happening on a couple of flights after that. My last in-person conversation with NAPALM DEATH‘s Shane Embury was very emotional; he suggested we add clean vocals after he overheard Katerina doing some clean singing on the tour bus (after shows, on our winter 2023 European tour with NxDx, everyone would sing along together. it really was magical). The vocal hook and melody on ‘Turbulence’ was created a day before vocals were to be recorded at GodCity. We took that airplane experience, and wrote some straightforward, but meaningful lyrics.”
“It will be immediately obvious when you first hear this song that it is a departure for us,” offers Economou. “We wanted to take a risk with ‘Turbulence’, and after performing so many live shows over the last year we were ready to compile all that influence. The clean singing may take some people off guard coming from a grind/hardcore band, but after touring with NAPALM DEATH, we realized we wanted to incorporate that aspect into our music in a similar way. We definitely wanted a grungy, catchy chorus to sing at all of our upcoming festival appearances, and I hope the fans like the song as much as we do”
“Dreams On Algorithms” is also advanced by the single “Always Watching You”, a video for which can be seen below.
“Most of ‘Always Watching You’ was written in a practice space by Jesse and Krissy, and refined during soundchecks we had over the year,” details Economou. “I’ve had this desire to write a song where I could portray the obsessive-stalker-girl archetype through lyrics for a while. Although not physically threatening, it’s really interesting that society is so terrified of this stereotype. In ‘Always Watching You’, I wanted this fantastical, ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’-style imagery that was rooted in the gore and horror of death metal. Themes of parasocial relationships, anxieties from social media, and an omnipresent algorithm are strongly observed in this song and throughout the entire album.”
“Dreams On Algorithms” track listing:
01. DOA
02. Always Watching You
03. Constant Passenger
04. Moral Injury
05. Concept Of God
06. Animus Multiform
07. Scorpion
08. Planned Obsolescence
09. Toothless
10. Turbulence
Striking cover art by AC Tremblay foreshadows the inherent power and thematic investment contained in “Dreams On Algorithms”.
“We have collaborated with the incredible AC Tremblay once more to create this vision of ‘Dreams On Algorithms’,’ says the band. “We wanted a similar expression as our last album, but with a different color palette. The art of Kurt Seligmann, Bauhaus theater sets, ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’, Eiko Ishioka and the Cremaster Cycle were source materials of inspiration for this visual storytelling. The amount of detail and attention that AC Tremblay pays to his drawing is what we love most about working with him. You’ll be able to find many Easter eggs from the album’s lyrics within the artwork. We’re still finding new details.”
Unquestionably one of the hardest working bands in music today, ESCUELA GRIND is currently in the midst of a two-month tour of Europe which includes a slew of high-profile festival appearances.
In addition to Economou and Fuentes, ESCUELA GRIND features Kris Morash (guitar) and Justin Altamirano (bass).
Photo credit: D. Torrieri