WVRM Honor Assassinated Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton with New Song “Thorn Palace”
“Thorn Palace,” the new single from WVRM’s forthcoming album Colony Collapse, opens with a sample from a famous speech by Fred Hampton, colloquially known as “I Am a Revolutionary,” in which the then-chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party said:
“We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere. But when I leave, you’ll remember I said, with the last words on my lips, that I am a revolutionary. And you’re going to have to keep on saying that. You’re going to have to say that I am a proletariat, I am the people. I am not the pigs. You’ve got to make a distinction. And the people are going to have to attack the pigs. The people are going to have to stand up against the pigs.”
When Hampton was just 21-years-old, the FBI raided Hampton’s home, and Chicago police shot him twice in the head at point blank range while he was in his bed. The fact that Hampton’s speech is used here lets you know where the band is coming from.
The music that follows seethes with the righteous rage to match Hampton’s speech. The song’s first half is severely punishing, acidic death-grind, while the second half is, as the band tells Captured Howls, “pure concrete.” It is, indeed, the perfect soundtrack for “standing up against the pigs.”
Listen to “Thorn Palace” at the bottom of this post. Colony Collapse comes out April 3 on Prosthetic, and can be pre-ordered here. The band heads out on tour Napalm Death, Aborted, and Tombs later that same month; get dates below.
04/17 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall [tickets]
04/18 Denver, CO – Gothic Theater [tickets]
04/19 Kansas City, MO – Riot Room [tickets]
04/20 St Louis, MO – Red Flag [tickets]
04/21 Milwaukee, WI – Miramar Theater [tickets]
04/22 Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze [tickets]
04/23 Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews [tickets]
04/24 Chicago, IL – Reggie’s [tickets]
04/25 Toronto, ON – Opera House [tickets]
04/26 Ottawa, ON – Brass Monkey [tickets]
04/28 Quebec City, QC – La Source [tickets]
04/29 Montreal, QC – Fairmount Theater [tickets]
04/30 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club [tickets]
05/01 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus Show [tickets]
05/03 Washington, DC – Black Cat [tickets]
05/04 Durham, NC – Motorco [tickets]
05/06 Tampa, FL – Orpheum [tickets]
05/07 Miami, FL – Churchill’s [tickets]
05/08 Orlando, FL – The Haven [tickets]
05/09 Atlanta, GA – 529 [tickets]
05/10 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks [tickets]
05/11 San Antonio, TX – Rock Box [tickets]
05/13 Albuquerque, NM – LaunchPad [tickets]
05/14 Phoenix, AZ – Club Red [tickets]
05/15 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick [tickets]
05/16 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory [tickets]
