Exclusive Track Premiere: Wake, “In the Lair of the Rat Kings”

It’s been exactly two years to the day (freaky!) since we praised Wake’s last album, Misery Rites, for its ability to “grind the listener to mush,” and we’re pleased as punch to report that the Canadian crew’s latest offering, Devouring Ruin, is every bit as unforgiving. In fact, while the title of the Ruin track we’re debuting today, “In the Lair of the Rat Kings,” is likely to summon thoughts of two famous pieces of classic music — Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (in which the “Rat King” is the villain) — sonically, it’s about as far away from those compositions as anything could be. “In the Lair of the Rat Kings” is a fire tornado of a song, with guitars like a swarm of angry bees and blast beats that would make a war sound peaceful by comparison. Even during its relatively melodious mid-section, it conjures feelings of being swallowed alive by quicksand rather than offering any kind of respite. It’s a fuckin’ keeper if ever there was one.

Says bassist Ryan Kennedy of the track:

“Musically, ‘Lair’ is an exercise in playing really ferociously without losing the simplicity and heaviness of really simple, functional, carefully laid out metal riffs. Everything and the kitchen sink all the time tends to turn faster more extreme music into something of a boring vortex, and we wanted a song that was as fast as the heavy stuff we loved growing up but still had the craft of the best most memorable slower heavy metal, too.”

Adds drummer Josh Bueckert:

“It’s the newest song we wrote on the album, and the first riff is probably the most similar to something heard on ‘Misery Rites.’ The rest of the song has extreme tempo shifts and is heavy straightforward metal.”

Do yourself a favor: turn your speakers up as loud as you possibly can and blast Wake’s “In the Lair of the Rat Kings” below! Translation Loss Records will release Devouring Ruin on March 27. Pre-order it here!!!