There were a lot of changes for progressive metal outfit East of the Wall when recording their new album, A Neutral Second, lineup changes and the building of a new recording studio among them. Due for a June 30 release on Translation Loss, A Neutral Second is the most far-out material East of the Wall have ever recorded, incorporating lush synths, extended instrumental passages and a generally more-focused approach into their sound.
To go along with the announcement of A Neutral Second, East of the Wall have released “Detonator Gauntlet,” the first track on the album. At nearly eight minutes, it’s the second longest song on A Neutral Second and traverses the spectrum covered on the record. You can hear it for yourself (and watch the gorgeous performance video) below (and pre-order it now).
“The reason that this track made sense as the opening salvo is that it’s the first one we penned with our new guitarist Matt Keys,” explains vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Alfano. “Our previous record, NP-Complete, had a difficult and drawn-out development period since we lost our previous guitarist Ray Suhy halfway through and had to re-think a lot of the material as we briefly adapted to just having two guitar players (well, plus various overdubs).
“In contrast, A Neutral Second is the first full-length composed by one consistent lineup since the band formed. So by our standards, this three-year writing-period was breezy and joyful. Oh, and it has all the thickness of a three-guitar lineup again (everyone rejoiced except for our mixing engineer Scott Evans).
“Lyrically, ‘Detonator Gauntlet’ touches on themes of indoctrination, radicalization and hate mobs—ruminating on how people get wrapped up in those movements, and ultimately deciding that their motivations are kind of irrelevant compared to the outcomes of their actions. But personally, I also wanted to make this song and record more hopeful than our previous ones which were lyrical dirges, so there’s hopefully an undercurrent of resistance and positivity in there as well – at least, as optimistic as you’re likely to get from this band.”
