LIONS AT THE GATE, the new band featuring former ILL NIÑO members Cristian Machado (vocals), Ahrue “Luster” Ilustre (guitar) and Diego Verduzco (guitar), alongside bassist Stephen Brewer (WESTFIELD MASSACRE) and drummer Fern Lemus, has released its latest single and music video, “Bed Of Nails”. The track strikes a fine balance between otherworldly vocals, relentless rhythm, and massively heavy riffs.
Speaking about “Bed Of Nails”, Machado commented: “‘Bed Of Nails’ is a song that was brought in by Diego, a string of riffs that told a story. [Producer] Kile [Odellpushed the dynamics of the song into extremes by surrounding Diego‘s riffs with ghostly verses. Ahrue and Steve rounded off some of the parts and the bridge of the song. When I heard the demo, I fell in love with the heavy riff and the double bass, especially followed by those intimate and creepy verses. That caught my attention instantly. When we got the final mixes back from Kile, I realized how strong the song was.”
He continued: “The message of the song is not hidden in the lyric; it is blatantly about deep inner struggle to accept the things you cannot change. I think, especially to embrace those things which blossom growth, even when they involve intense struggle. It’s a theme stitched well into the album. Laying out a maze, attempting to discover an exit path, trying to cut through the uncertainty of life and the chaos of the world. Really, though, aren’t we all?”
“Bed Of Nails” and previously released singles “Scapegoat” and “Not Even Human” are expected to appear on LIONS AT THE GATE‘s upcoming debut album, which was produced by the aforementioned Kile Odell, who has previously worked with FOZZY and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE.
LIONS AT THE GATE released its debut single, “Not Even Human”, back in June 2021 to huge excitement from fans old and new.
When LIONS AT THE GATE‘s formation was first announced, Machado said: “I feel so blessed to be in LIONS AT THE GATE. We’ve all been making albums for a long time but I think it was time for us to make something special and memorable again. This album is exactly that. Take away our musical history, take away our long hair, take away our personal feelings, just make believe we were never there. This LIONS AT THE GATE album is amazing. We finally made a modern metal album that metalheads will enjoy beginning to end. It’s deep, it’s memorable, I can’t wait for everyone to hear it, I can’t wait for everyone to hear the featured female artist on one of the songs.”
Verduzco added: “I’m beyond proud and excited to announce our new band LIONS AT THE GATE. Life is all about change and I feel that this music is the most dynamic and honest that we’ve ever written. I feel a sense of freedom and am completely reinvigorated and even anxious (in a good way) to be a part of something that pulls influence from so many directions . Each member brings a unique set of talent and tools. It’s quite frankly some of the best music we’ve ever written. Organic, honest, and true.”
Luster stated: “I’m more excited about LIONS AT THE GATE than anything that I’ve been a part of since I started my musical career.”
Luster discussed his renewed collaboration with Machado and Verduzco in an interview with Pierre Gutierrez of Rock Talks. He said: “I can’t even explain how happy I am with how this came out. It sounds, in my opinion, better than anything that Cristian and I have ever done together, and that includes all the ILL NIÑO records that we’ve done together.”
Asked about the musical direction of LIONS AT THE GATE, Ahrue said: “It’s a very polished sound, similar to… I don’t wanna say it sounds like [ILL NIÑO‘s 2003 album] ‘Confession’, but there’s a lot of singing on it, there’s a lot of production. But at the same time, there’s heaviness to it. But the songs are better than anything we’ve written. And the crazy thing was the process of writing ’em was way easier than it has ever been for us. Usually an ILL NIÑO record would take us three to six months to finish. We finished this record in 20 days, and we believe it sounds better than anything we’ve ever done in the past.”
Speaking about LIONS AT THE GATE‘s collaboration with Odell, Ahrue said: “He’s worked with BAD WOLVES. I think he may have co-wrote with them. But he has a huge resume, and he’s had, like, five Number One hits last year. And he was amazing to work with. I’ve worked with Ross Robinson, I’ve worked with Johnny K, I’ve worked with Terry Date, as a mixer, and I’ve worked with some other big names in the industry that have all had platinum records, and I’ll say, hands down, Kile Odell is amazing. I would say, second to [MACHINE HEAD‘s] ‘The Burning Red’, it was an amazing experience. It was a different way. As far as Ross Robinson was really into the emotion and getting the emotion out of the players and the music, Odell is very musical and he’s really able to help with the songs, and he has a great ear and a great vision.”
LIONS AT THE GATE will make its live debut on April 28 at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. Support at the show will come from THROWN INTO EXILE and BREAKING IN A SEQUENCE. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 4 at 10 a.m. PT.
Photo credit: Andre Giovani
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Tagged: Alternative Music, music blog