Next week Final Gasp embark on a headlining North American tour and release their forthcoming album, New Day Symptoms. They give us a final preview today with “No Hand To Lead”, a ripping, cathartic third single about remembering those we’ve lost. Steeped in nocturnal, death rock adventurism, driven with post-punk anxiety and hardcore punk intensity, Final Gasp’s second studio album places itself within a lineage, summoning up and amplifying a spectrum of powers from rock’n’roll lore, it makes them resonate in the here and now. New Day Symptoms gives voice to fears and frustrations lurking just under the surface of waking consciousness and turns them into a rallying cry.
Where Final Gasp’s acclaimed 2023 debut, Mourning Moon, was a concentrated shot of acrid, underground death rock, its propulsion tanks largely filled with references to Samhain and Killing Joke, New Day Symptoms keeps all the core urgency while vastly broadening its scope. With new space to explore, this is an album that feels communal, a mapping of personal trials and dark recesses onto a map dotted with rafters-rousing marker points.
Final Gasp’s ability to meld opposing forces into something vibrant and new is encoded into their DNA. The process of forging a sound that combined but went beyond their musical background and musical obsessions was one that took a lot of soul-searching, taking them on a path whose destination remains open-ended.
“I think we’re still figuring it out, to be honest,” says Jake. “It’s like most things when you start out you have a vision and stick to it, we just quickly realised we could do so much more with it. We blossomed into this group of people that all have similar influences, but see them from different perspectives. We could hear the band beginning a new chapter.”
One of the main reasons for the broadening of the band’s sound on the new album is that New Day Symptoms was written much more as a democratic process than Mourning Moon.
“It was a total hands-on, involved process between all of us,” Murphy enthuses. “Because everything was on the table and everyone’s ideas were blending together really well. Naturally we still rely on what we’re used to, but this time we let ourselves explore different tones. And we were all so open and receptive to each others’ ideas that writing and recording this record was more of a collaboration. Having Arthur (Rizk, producer) produce this record opened even more ideas to us.”
It’s that open-mindedness while still being fully in touch with your underground roots that gives New Day Symptoms such a galvanizing force. It’s one of those rare killer rock’n’roll albums whose conviction and honesty make it unique, primed to stand the test of time, and as acclaimed tours with bands as diverse as Abbath, Gatecreeper, Fiddlehead, Poison Ruin, Devil Master and Imperial Triumphant make clear, unlimited in their appeal.
New Day Symptoms was produced by Arthur Rizk and sees its release February 27 via Relapse Records.
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