“There was a lot of inner turmoil within the band around the release of our previous album ‘Heads Will Roll’, which escalated with the exit of bassist Jyri Helko”, guitarist Ben Varon explains. “I was also running pretty low motivation-wise, and needed a few months to take a breather and find the excitement for the music again. But it was soon clear to me, Joonas (Kosonen, vocals) and Oce (Oskari Niemi, drums) that we wanted to continue the band and still make music together. And I knew just the right guy to call for bass duties.”
Enter Silver Ots, Ben’s old partner in crime from his previous band Amoral.
“Silver and me go way back, I believe we were 15 when we formed Amoral. I have always regarded him as one of the best riff composers in metal, so I knew the value that he would bring to the band with his songwriting in addition to his ridiculously tight bass playing. And the proof is in the pudding, all you need to do is to listen to ‘Killer & The Queen’, for which Silver composed the music for!”, Ben continues.
“I met the guys at a crossroads”, says Silver Ots. “After the band going full speed for so long there was a wind of change in the air. We decided to take the time, reflect back and look ahead, find a mutual vibe and see what we can come up with together. What you hear now is one of the pieces of new music we’ve been cooking up this past year.”
“’Killer & the Queen’ showcases the more groovy side of the ‘Hoarse”, says vocalist Joonas Kosonen. “Lyrically, the song is about those enemies very close to you. So close you can’t even see them coming. We’re super proud of this one, and we feel reborn after going through hellfire. A bit of dissonance sure makes art come alive!”, Joonas summarizes.