TAU CROSS, the multinational punk/heavy metal collective featuring AMEBIX bassist/frontman Rob "The Baron" Miller, VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin, and members of cult crust outfits MISERY and WAR//PLAGUE, will release its second full-length album, "Pillar Of Fire", on July 21 on CD, 2xLP, and digital formats via Relapse Records.
In advance of the record's release, the band has unveiled a Jakub Moth-directed music video for first single, "Deep State".
Comments TAU CROSS on the new album: "'Pillar Of Fire' is the continuation of some of the ideas that were explored on our first album. This time we have managed to share the songwriting more equally and introduce some other textures to the songs. This should help to establish TAU CROSS as less of a one-off phenomenon and more of an ongoing musical collective producing our own distinctive sonic environment."
"Pillar Of Fire" was recorded across three different countries and co-produced by "The Baron" in the same manner as their eponymous debut. The drums were tracked in Montreal, guitars in Minneapolis, bass in Seattle and Minneapolis, and vocals on the Isle Of Skye in Scotland.
"Pillar Of Fire" further expands the group's unique musical approach ranging from dark folk witchery to industrial punk metal brutalism; a moody melting pot of KILLING JOKE's metallic post-punk and MOTЦRHEAD's anthemic, hard rock with flourishes of traditional instrumentation and an infusion of 16th Century English mysticism. "Pillar Of Fire" is a musical unearthing of TAU CROSS's philosophical preoccupations: mythological motifs, ultra-terrestrial hypotheses, surreal, social political landscapes, and the endless search for meaning in a controlled universe.
"Pillar Of Fire" (cover) track listing:
01. Raising Golem
02. Bread And Circuses
03. On The Water
04. Deep State
05. Pillar Of Fire
06. Killing The King
07. A White Horse
08. The Big House
09. RFID
10. Seven Wheels
11. What Is A Man
12. Three Down (Vinyl + Digital Bonus Track)
13. We Are The Terror (Vinyl + Digital Bonus Track)
14. In Time (Vinyl + Digital Bonus Track)
Formed in 2013 across two continents and three countries, TAU CROSS is the natural evolution of Miller's work in AMEBIX. The band's self-titled debut was recorded in 2014 and released via Relapse Records in May 2015 to widespread critical reception, including an inclusion on Rolling Stone's Metal Albums Of The Year list.
TAU CROSS made its live debut in 2016 in North America, followed by a special mainstage performance at the legendary Roadburn festival in the Netherlands.
TAU CROSS is:
Rob "The Baron" Miller - bass/vocals
Andy Lefton - guitar
Jon Misery - guitar
Michel "Away" Langevin - drums
Tom Radlo - bass
James Adams - keyboards