On April 21st, Finnish post-punk outfit Grave Pleasures will release their third full-length, Plagueboys, via Century Media Records. For a first preview of this album, the new single, “Society of Spectres”, can be streamed now here;
the video (directed by Tekla Vály) can be seen at:
Juho Vanhanen (guitar) comments: “This song walks down a dark and crooked path that transcends into a nightmarish blood disco layer. That’s the place where all the ghouls gather to celebrate the downfall and feed on the masses.”
Formed in 2015, after the dissolution of singer Mat McNerney and bassist Valtteri Arino’s short-lived sensation Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures have defiantly expanded on what has been described as their “war-cry for the eternally doomed,” with each album seeing their song-craft reach new heights. Their raw atomic punk of their major label debut album Dreamcrash (2015) was revamped and contorted into the uplifting nihilism of distinctly more frenetic sophomore smash-hit album Motherblood (2017), ultimately amped up and finessed into the heady Plagueboys (2023), their most mature yet dangerous album to-date. With the electrifying contradiction of light and darkness, the duality of the funereal Grave and euphoric Pleasure in their moniker, Plagueboys is an exhilarating, tear-filled, grinning dance of death, undoubtedly their most pleasurable yet.
With music written by McNerney (Hexvessel, Carpenter Brut, Me & That Man) and guitarists Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) and Aleksi Kiiskilä, and then arranged together with Arino and drummer Rainer Tuomikanto, Plagueboys sees the lineup, who frantically hacked out Motherblood together, come of age and find their superpowers. Recorded in Finland and produced by Vanhanen and his Oranssi Pazuzu comrade Niko Lehdontie at the controls, the sound on Plagueboys is a blistering wash of reverb and neon warehouse dancefloor; unabashed lone drum and bass carrion call give way to synth and guitar interplay that brings to mind British grandmasters Wire, The Sound and Echo & The Bunnymen through a contemporary lens.
Pre-order Plagueboys now at: https://gravepleasures.lnk.to/
