Exclusive Album Premiere: Caustic Casanova’s God How I Envy the Deaf
Few albums will make you as grateful for your hearing as God How I Envy the Deaf, the latest offering from Caustic Casanova. The Washington, DC area quartet’s inventive blend of stoner metal, noise rock, psychedelic, prog, and pretty much whatever else they want is so invigorating, listening to it feels like have ice water dumped over your head. They’re the kind of band who are perfectly at home in the metal world — they were previously signed to Kylesa’s Retro Futurist Records, and it’s easy to imagine them sharing a stage with the Melvins, Torche, or Big Business — but will also almost certainly have appeal outside of extreme music circles as well. Put more simply: they’re just great fucking songwriters, and God How I Envy the Deaf is a total goddamn blast.
Says Caustic Casanova bassist/vocalist Francis Beringer of the album:
“For years we’d hear surprised declarations at the merch table after our shows, ‘You’re so much heavier live than what I heard online!’ We wanted to correct that to some extent, so with ‘God How I Envy the Deaf,’ we endeavored to create the most intense Caustic Casanova album yet.
“This record is the culmination of years of intense songwriting and touring, with some tunes going back nearly four years in live sets and going through lots of changes before we recorded them with our trusted sonic counselor J. Robbins. Songs like ‘Fancy English,’ ‘Filth Castle,’ ‘Truth Syrup’ and ‘Boxed and Crated’ should make it clear we’re a band that specializes first and foremost in massively heavy riffs and overwhelming sonic environments.
“I’m one of the writers for The Hard Times, and a good portion of this record’s words were informed by my experiences writing satire and interacting with really funny people. I like writing lyrics where the vocals are sung by an idiot, especially a self-important idiot, so there’s some of that. ‘God How I Envy the Deaf’ also features bad puns, like lyrics taken straight from North Korean state propaganda and used to ludicrous effect, direct references to comedians Maria Bamford and Patton Oswalt, and guitar lead references to Rubert Holmes’ ‘Escape,’ better known as the Piña Colada song. Point being, humor is a significant part of this record. And given how much the Chinese government and its interactions with American entertainment has been in the news, it’s worth mentioning that, yes, the album art is directly inspired by Chinese Communist Party propaganda from the Cultural Revolution.”
You can stream God How I Envy the Deaf above! The album comes out this Friday, October 18 on Magnetic Eye. Pre-order it here! The band also has a whole lotta live dates coming up. Those are as follows:
10/19 – Washington DC at Atlas Brew Works (Caustic Casanova album release)
11/2 – Brooklyn, NY at Saint Vitus Bar (Magnetic Eye Records Day of Doom Label Showcase)
11/8 – Richmond, VA
11/9 – Greensboro, NC
11/10 – Wilmington, NC
11/12 – Charleston, SC
11/14 – St. Augustine, FL
11/15 – Gainesville, FL
11/16 – Tampa, FL
11/17 – Miami, FL
11/18 – Orlando, FL
11/20 – New Orleans, LA
11/21 – San Antonio, TX
11/22 – Denton, TX
11/23 – Fort Worth, TX
