Michigan heavy metal crew Battlecross are just about to release new album Rise To Power, but if you can’t wait we’re premiering it in full right now!
Speaking to Metal Hammer, guitarist Hiran Deraniyagala describes Rise To Power as “a continued evolution of who we are and I feel it’s our best album to date. The writing process was very organic and had a natural flow of creativity that we all had built up inside of us. This album definitely has a variety of our influences while still keeping a good flow within and between the songs. “The final product was beyond our expectations and we’re truly proud of this album. It was everything that we love about heavy metal- groove, speed, brutality, melodic hooks and harmonies and most of all no bull-shit high energy that you can bang your head and mosh to!
Hiran also chose his favourite three tracks from the album. Get your heads banging to these!
Not Your Slave: ”I love the way this song grooves and the chorus is really catchy to me. Originally the song was written in a more fast upbeat tempo, but Tony (Asta, guitar) came up with the idea to add more groove to it. I really love the dynamics of this song and I think it captures a lot of our various influences.
Blood and Lies: ”I feel like this is one of the more ‘out of the box’ type songs that we’ve written. The intro has a haunting feel and the overall vibe we were going for was sort of a slow, doomy, heavy feel to it. I love the eerie bridge part that leads into the heavy breakdown at the end of the song.”
The Path: ”This was one of the first songs written and I love how the acoustic intro turned out on the record. I think this is one of those songs that captures the overall Battlecross sound much like Push Pull Destroy and Flesh And Bone do. This song is really epic and the solo at the end is so bluesy and old school that is reminiscent of Dimebag. Like something off of Cowboys From Hell. I love the lyrics on this one too. I remember the first initial vocal take I wasn’t feeling but once I heard the final version it came together so perfectly.”
Rise To Power is out August 21st, via Metal Blade Records.
