EVIL BLIZZARD ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘ROTTING IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE’ RELEASED 4/11/23

10th October 2023 0 By Jon Deaux

Preston’s unholiest sons Evil Blizzard return with their most furious, compelling, and diverse album to date, released on their own Crackedankles label, (which has recently branched out into releasing the likes of Hotwax, Thank, Bad Guys, and TV Face.)

Formed by accident in a fog of booze and regret, Evil Blizzard has been confusing people for over a decade now. Infamous for their masked multi-bass guitar assault, their gigs have become synonymous with chaos and celebration in equal measures. Since then they have graced everywhere from the front page of national newspapers to the most underground festivals, and have managed to avoid any pigeonhole with their mixture of psych, metal, punk, and krautrock, building a ridiculously loyal following across Europe. Playing alongside bands as varied as Hawkwind, Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd, Embrace and Space they have alienated and enthralled audiences in equal measures.

Following the critical and commercial success of their last album ‘The Worst Show On Earth’ the band took a year off after that tour to recoup. And then got back together in March 2020, just in time for… another enforced year off.

The new album, their fifth, was written during and post-lockdown and ‘reflects the claustrophobia, fear, and paranoia of those days’ according to guitarist (not bassist!) Filthydirty.

‘The band has changed. One of our 4 bassists Kav left and we were joined by Fleshcrawl (aka Mr. Dibs, Hawkwind’s vocalist and bassist for over 12 years). Kav was inimitable as a musician, so it never crossed our minds to try and ‘replace’ him, so when Fleshcrawl scurried in he brought a whole new range of sounds and toys to the sandpit. Also, we’d run out of sonic space to play with, having just the basses, and everything had got a bit stale – so I switched to lead guitar which brought a whole new range of possibilities.’

The new album is much more representational of the band’s record collections: it retains the ‘Sabbath-meets PiL-meets Killing Joke’ sound found on the band’s earlier albums, but now encompasses dub, goth, and electronica in its 8 tracks, with clear nods in the general direction of Sonic Youth, Jane’s Addiction, Leftfield and The Mission.

As opposed to all previous albums which were recorded live in one or two takes, this album took over three months with the band meticulously de-structuring songs ‘that sounded too much like pop songs’ resulting in an album that is uncomfortable yet still accessible.

Featuring cover art by the legendary Nick Blinko of Rudimentary Peni, the album is released in gatefold sleeve on limited edition pink vinyl, regular black vinyl, compact disc and DL.