Heads up: I think this split is gonna need a bigger boat. Squalus, featuring members of Khôrada and formed from the ashes of Giant Squid, are releasing a split with progressively-minded group Shadow Limb; it features four previously-unheard Squalus tracks, including “Fourth of July,” which was cut from last year’s The Great Fish… due to its length. Fortunately, Squalus kept the song for a future project and today, Decibel can share it.
“Fourth of July” starts off quietly and builds into a crushing, progressive song that swells in its intensity. Bassist/vocalist Aaron John Gregory’s yells juxtapose the bright melodies that move around the sludgy music, making it a unique song easily identifiable as Squalus.
“For those who don’t know, our 2017 debut record, The Great Fish… is a retelling of Jaws,” Gregory tells Decibel. “To fit it all on a single LP, we had to cut a song. The track ‘Fourth of July’—which recreates the early conversation between Mayor Vaughn and Sheriff Brody about shutting down the beaches—was originally supposed to be the second track on the album, sitting in between songs that depict attacks on the first two victims. The completionist in me loved having a song for that scene with all that great dialogue, but for a number of reasons it was the most likely candidate to be severed when trimming down the album playtime. Knowing that we wanted to do something with it down the line gave us the perfect excuse to release this split with Shadow Limb, and record a couple new songs while we were at it.”
Get the Squalus/Shadow Limb split from Translation Loss on December 14, or pre-order now.
