2nd August 2024 will see the return of Barbarian Hermit, Manchester’s leading purveyors of groove laden, stoner/doom metal.
Released on APF Records, Mean Sugar may just be the heaviest ever tribute to Northern life. Frontman Simon Scarlett comments,
“The album is about what we know, and that is the bitter-sweetness of growing up in a northern town. It’s a crude representation of what it is to be us these past few years: Lads catapulted against our will into manhood, at a time when everything is changing, and yet here we stay under the comforting and watchful shadow of the Pennine hills.
The north is an invigorating place, there’s a post-industrial beauty here unlike anywhere else. It’s also a tough place, precarious and on the edge. Sometimes we can feel powerless and unheard; our response to this, is to pick up guitars, make noise and hammer down a punishing rhythm.”
Written over a 3 year period, Mean Sugar is a cathartic creation, set against a back-drop that has seen people endure global pandemic, endless political turmoil, a cost of living crisis and war. During these times often the best coping mechanism is to go into a room with your friends and focus your energy on playing some very heavy and loud music.
Recorded by Joe Clayton at No Studio and mastered by Chris Fielding (Foel Studios), the album sees the return of original vocalist Simon Scarlett who helped craft the band’s debut ‘One’ EP, originally released in 2016 (and reissued on APF Records in 2021). First single ’Stitched Up’ was according to the band, "one of the first songs we wrote as a full band after Si rejoined and it was one of those where everything clicks and it almost writes itself. It just fell out of us. It features not only one of the catchiest riffs we’ve ever written but also one of the heaviest and most disrespectful. Lyrically the track is about perseverance. We are surrounded by disruption, things that trip us up, make us lose sleep and neglect our own fulfilment."
Watch the video now:
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Credit: Jay Massie
Aural Aggravation 