NEWS: Black Midi announce third album 'Hellfire' and release new single

NEWS: Black Midi announce third album ‘Hellfire’ and release new single

London trio Black Midi have announced a new album, Hellfire, which is out July 15th on Rough Trade records.

Revealed on Monday, the band’s third LP features nine tracks written and recorded in London with producer Marta Salogni, following the release of last year’s LP Cavalcade.

The band – composed of guitarist and singer Geordie Greep, drummer Morgan Simpson and bass player Cameron Picton – have released ‘Welcome To Hell’ as the first single, which features a quirky animated video directed by Gustaf Holtenäs.

The song tells the story of ‘a shell shocked soldier’s excess and military discharge’ set in an exotic coastal town commandeered by an invading army.

Rough Trade said in a press release that Hellfire “builds on the melodic and harmonic elements of its predecessor” and tells tales of “morally suspect characters” told in the first person.

Greep said: “If Cavalcade was a drama, Hellfire is like an epic action film.”

Regarding the album’s title, he added: “I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs, I’ve always loved movies and anything else with a depiction of Hell. Dante’s Inferno. When Homer goes to Hell in the Simpsons. There’s a robot Hell in Futurama. Isaac Bashevis Singer, a Jewish writer who portrays a Satan interfering in people’s lives. There’s loads!”

Hellfire features cover art by UK-based graphic designer David Rudnick, who also designed the covers for Cavalcade and the band’s first album, Schlagenheim.

Black Midi are backed on the album by saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboard player Seth Evans. Second guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin has been absent from the band since early 2020; last year he revealed he’s been taking a break due to mental health reasons.

He has since recorded. with Greentea Peng and played on the new Wu-Lu album, which is also due in July – but he doesn’t play on Hellfire.

Black Midi fans also have the chance to get their hands on exclusive flexi discs when they pre-order Hellfire, featuring songs from across their catalogue recorded live with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago last November.

Six of those songs will be pressed on six flexi discs (each featuring one song each) that will individually be available with a limited number of album pre-orders from certain retailers.

The band is set to play a concert at London’s Somerset House this July, as well as gigs at New York’s Central Park SummerStage and Los Angeles’ The Wiltern, among other venues in Europe and the US.

Hellfire Tracklist

  1. Hellfire

  2. Sugar/Tzu

  3. Eat Men Eat

  4. Welcome To Hell

  5. Still

  6. The Race Is About To Begin

  7. Dangerous Liaisons

  8. The Defence

  9. 27 Questions

 

God is in the TV is an online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.