Taking a little deviation from our normal thrash/death fare… Gareth checks out the new album by the genre fluid.. Prong!

Always the metal outsider, Prong seems to have been around forever! Never easy to pigeonhole, Prong has been lumped in with all sorts of genres, the 80’s stuff, the debut ‘Force Fed’, was labelled as crossover, and early 90’s material, ‘Beg to Differ’ and ‘Prove you Wrong’, got them mixed in with the thrash tag, while the mid-90’s, ‘Cleansing’ and ‘Rude Awakening’ saw them grouped into the industrial and groove brigade, and while they certainly can hold their own in any of those categories, none of those monikers really fits the bill, they sort of stick out on their own somewhat, transcending modern trends and probably why although popular have remained a fairly cult act.

With a former members list as long as your arm and then some, the groups line-up has always been, shall we say fluid, yet the one constant; guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tommy Victor, this time joined by bassist Jason Christopher and drummer Griffin McCarthy, has always managed to churn out albums on a fairly regular basis, although the 6 year gap between new album (number 13 by the way) ‘State of Emergency’, and 2017’s ‘Zero Days’ is the longest in the band’s career so far.

Victor has also always had a knack for penning a decent riff or two, and an ear for a good hook, and this time we have 11 new anthems, starting off with the thrashy ‘The Decent’, the band lay the foundation for another solid release. The guitars have a great crunch, and the drums punch through the mix without being overbearing, add to that a thick gnarly bass sound and you have a sturdy modern production that efficiently does a decent, if a bit generic, job. The title-track is a bit more groove oriented with a bouncy, staccato rhythm, and a shout along chorus. Single ‘Non-Existence’ has a catchy, punky refrain with an almost art-noise guitar feel. Elsewhere ‘Light Turns Black’ is all edgy angst, ‘Disconnected’ is a commercially tinged post-punk blast, and ‘Back (NYC)’ adds a bit of experimentation, with an unpredictable arrangement and vocal patterns, whilst still being 100% Prong. The album finishes with a cover of the legendary Rush song ‘Working Man’, which unfortunately should have stayed in the locker.

Although I’d venture to say that Prong have never released the same album twice, always throwing something a bit different into the mix, I’d also say they have also developed a stock ’sound’, certainly over the past 15-20 years, which makes them instantly recognisable, and ‘State of Emergency’ being a very heavy and solid album effortlessly reinforces that. If you’re already a fan, this will be an album you are going to lap up and get a lot of enjoyment from. If you’re more of a casual fan, or don’t know the band at all, ‘State of Emergency’ is as good a place to start listening as any.

Prong – State Of Emergency is out this Friday the 6th via Steamhammer/SPV