The Armed Continue To Be Gloriously Strange on New Single “An Iteration”

The Armed have released one last single from their new album, Ultrapop, before that album arrives in two weeks. It’s called “An Iteration,” and, yeah, it’s pretty great. If you’ve listened to the previous singles from Ultrapop, “All Futures” and “Average Death,” then you already have some awareness that the material is true to the album title; “An Iteration,” uh, reiterates that. It sounds like someone lit a fire under the ass of an early-aughts indie rock band. Unlike listening to actual indie rock bands, it will not make you wanna punch yourself in the face. Or maybe it will, but only in a good way.

Also, you really should watch the accompanying music video. The band is 3/3 in this regard, too — all the clips from Ultrapop have been great in one way or another. This latest one starts out being very David Lynch-esque, in the funniest possible way, and then becomes like the opening title sequence from a Gaspar Noé movie over footage directed by John Waters. I dig it.

As a bonus, the video features a voice-over and a cameo from David Hayter, who voices “Solid Snake” in the Metal Gear Solid video game series.

Says The Armed’s Dan Greene of Hayter’s appearance:

“The story of Metal Gear Solid 2 — which seemed like convoluted, impenetrable nonsense when we were kids — has turned out to be disturbingly prescient of society in 2021. I would argue that this video game raised more interesting artistic and philosophical questions than a lot of ‘higher art,’ and much earlier too. We are beyond honored to see David Hayter take on the role of Dan Greene within The Armed Cinematic Universe.”

Check out the song and video below.

Ultrapop pops on April 16 via Sargent House. Pre-order/pre-save it here.