Wovenwar Set the “World on Fire”

First thing’s first: AP has debuted a new Wovenwar track, “World on Fire.” Rather appropriately given its title, the song is, as Ruby Rhod would put it, “Hot HOT HOT!” Listen:

Second thing’s second: along with the track premiere, AP has also interviewed drummer Jordan Mancino about the recent departure of guitarist Phil Sgrosso. Sgrosso, like three of his bandmates, came from As I Lay Dying — which is to say, these musicians have a long and successful history together. So how do they plan to replace a dude they’ve worked with for so long? Well… at least for now, it turns out, they don’t!

What happened with Phil deciding to leave the band?
JORDAN MANCINO: We just wanted to go in different directions, in terms of touring commitments. It was something that we talked about like adults and understood each other’s perspectives. Right now, because he was still a big part of the creative process making Honor Is Dead—and we’ve yet to tour—it feels like business as usual, but we’ll see how his absence affects things as we move forward.

Are you planning on bringing in a permanent replacement for him or taking a session musician out with you?
JORDAN MANCINO: No, we actually want to handle it with just the four of us. Nick [Hipa] has got guitar duties down and Shane happens to be a great guitar player too, which puts us in a very good position. Once we decided to move forward that way and see how that goes, we felt good about it, and the four of us are just excited to get to play the new songs.

Interesting! These dudes are so high-energy live it’s hard for me to imagine them without a fifth member jumping around like a coked-up monkey on stage, but that may be just a total lack of imagination of my part. I’ll be curious too see/hear how this works.

Wovenwar’s sophomore album, Honor is Dead, comes out October 21 on Metal Blade. Pre-order it here. The new four-piece version of the band hits the road with Soilwork, Unearth, Battlecross, and Darkness Divided starting this Friday, October 14. We’re giving away a pair of tickets to every show on the tour! Get dates and enter for your chance to win here.