The multi-national death metal force, Age of Woe returns later this month with their first full-length album in over five years. Envenom follows An Ill Blowing Wind — and a single entitled “Gospel of Lies” — and exhibits a departure from the band’s prior formula. It’s apparent in the band’s final advance single from Envenom, “Patriarch.”
Age of Woe dips their collective toes into pools of melody and mid-tempo pacing, showcasing a knack for building tension through sludgy stylings and death-doom motifs. It is a bit of a switch up from their historically crusty death metal. Yet, as part of a whole, “Patriarch” shows Age of Woe settling into a unique array of styles on their most ambitious effort to date.
In a statement to Decibel, Age of Woe explains, “We chose ‘Patriarch’ as our third and final single simply because we feel it is a very strong song that perhaps showcases a slightly different approach than people are used to when listening to Age of Woe. It is also a track that, combined with the previous two singles we have released so far, is a testament to a diverse and varied album that has been worked on very hard. It should give the listener a good idea about Envenom without revealing too much.”
The band continues on to add, “This, our third album, should be familiar thematically although it has a different feel to it in that we worked around a specific theme that we could build out from. Both lyrically and musically we wanted to create an atmosphere around the word Envenom that would deal with the toxicity of our behaviors and beliefs as humans in a modern civilized world, on a personal level but in general terms as well.”
Envenom arrives February 26 through Lifeforce Records. Pre-order a copy of the album ahead of its release and watch the official video for “Patriarch” now.
