Naarm/Melbourne-based metal quintet Future Static have just announced their highly anticipated full-length debut album, ‘Liminality’, – due out Friday November 24 via Wild Thing Records. Alongside the news of the album, the band have revealed the single Roach Queen and its accompanying video from the upcoming record.
Across the length of its three-and-a-half-minute runtime, Roach Queen weaves together bouncing, pitch-shifted riffs, pummelling breakdowns, reverb-drenched ambience, and an anthemic, catharsis-imbued chorus into a tapestry of grotesque brilliance. At the centre of it all is lead singer Amariah Cook‘s versatile performance that spans ominous spoken word, guttural roars, tortured shrieks, and soaring sung hooks. The impact of Cook‘s contributions here is elevated further, considering the fact that the track derives its meaning and lyrics from a repressed traumatic experience in the vocalist’s youth.
“Roach Queen talks about a traumatic experience I had as a child in the first apartment my family and I lived in when we moved to Barcelona,” Cook recalls. “The place was infested by cockroaches and, for a long while, I was having nightmares where they would climb into my mouth while I slept, possibly causing a more severe illness to materialize at the time, that being my struggle with anorexia.”
The Roach Queen music video, filmed and directed by the master Colin Jeffs (Make Them Suffer, Alpha Wolf), was heavily attached to the story Amariah portrayed lyrically. However, she wanted to add how that experience (and any of the darker experiences she may have lived in her past) are what has made her so powerful and independent now, hence choosing a “Queen” as her character.
“The name ‘Roach Queen’ felt fitting to me,” explains Cook. “It came instantly, along with the lyrics, as the song has overtones of developed independence and strength that eventuated from this experience. With the music video, we wanted to evoke these themes in visual form, and as always, Colin absolutely nailed the execution, utilizing horror aesthetics and the authoritative figure of the ‘Queen’ as a representation of overcoming personal demons and trauma.”
Coinciding with the release is the band’s first UK and European tour, supporting The Omnific and playing German festivals Reeperbahn and Euroblast. This continues on from a two-year-long gauntlet of domestic and international touring as support for Jinjer and Voyager and being hand-chosen as special guests for shows with Destroy Rebuild Until Shows, GodShows, RedHook, Caligula’s Horse, Windwaker, Circles, and Bloom. They’ve also performed at Australian festivals Knight and Day, UNIFY Forever, UNIFY – Off The Record, Alpha Wolf’s CVLTFEST and BIGSOUND.
‘Liminality’ was produced, mixed, and mastered by Christopher Vernon (Windwaker, The Beautiful Monument). Cook proclaims, “We’re so proud to finally release our first full-length album, which we’ve been tirelessly working on and teasing to crowds for the past two years. Everything about this album came from the heart and soul of the band. The best way to describe it? It is the physical representation of friendship, teamwork, and our unconditional love for music.”
Previous singles Waves (2021) and Venenosa (2022), and their metal reimagining of Gasolina have landed fervent support from outlets such as Spotify, Apple Music, triple j, Double J, ABC’s rage, Triple M – Hard N Heavy, New Noise Magazine (USA), Kerrang! (UK), Wall of Sound, MANIACS, Hysteria Magazine, Music Feeds and HEAVY Mag.
Roach Queen is out now via Wild Thing Records – LISTEN HERE
‘Liminality’ will be available on Friday November 24 via Wild Thing Records – PRE-SAVE / PRE-ORDER HERE
With thanks to Good Intent
