The first best thing about Ultrapop, the coming album by heavy punk genre benders, The Armed, is how much it's going to be confusing listeners who will be expecting something different based on the album's cover and title. The other best thing about it is how skillfully the music is being transformed into something weighty and frantic after having been steadily based on an indeed pop underpinning.
The new album will be featuring contributions by greats like Mark Lanegan and Troy Van Leeuwen, and its their first co-produced by their own Dan Greene together with Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), while Kurt Ballou remains in charge as executive producer.
"Crafting vital art means presenting the audience with new and intriguing tensions—sonically, visually, conceptually," says Dan Green. "Over time and through use, those tensions become less novel and effective—and they become expectations. The concept of 'subgenre' becomes almost the antithesis of vitality in art—itself a fetishization of expectation. ULTRAPOP seeks, in earnest, to create a truly new listener experience. It is an open rebellion against the culture of expectation in 'heavy' music. It is a joyous, genderless, post-nihilist, anti-punk, razor-focused take on creating the most intense listener experience possible. It's the harshest, most beautiful, most hideous thing we could make."
The live video for the first track, All Futures, finds the band fully invigorated and offers a good glimpse at the band's objective, while it also reveals their large lineup which includes Jonni Randall (vocals, bass), Chris Slorach (vocals, guitar), Dan Greene (guitar, vocals), Adam Vallely (guitar, vocals), Dan Stolarski (guitar, vocals), Clark Huge (synthesizers), Urian Hackney (drums), Ben Koller (drums) and Cara Drolshagen (vocals).
Ultrapop comes out April 16th, 2021 via Sargent House. European dates for October 2021 are listed below.
EU TOUR DATES
10/09/21 - Bristol, England - The Exchange
10/10/21 - Birmingham, England - Dead Wax
10/11/21 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s
10/12/21 - Manchester, England - YES
10/13/21 - Glasgow, Scotland - Temple of Boom
10/14/21 - Leeds, England - Temple Of Boom
10/15/21 - London, England - MOTH Club
10/16/21- Brighton, England - The Green Door Store
10/18 /21 - Antwerp, Belgium - TRIX
10/19/21 - Reims, France - La Cartonnerie
10/20/21 - Lorient, France - I’Hydrophone
10/21/21 - Nantes, France - Stereolux
10/22/21 - Rouen, France - Le 106
10/23/21 - Paris. France - La Boule Noire