Hampshire-bred Southern metal riffbotherers XII Boar are streaming their new album Beyond The Valley Of The Triclops exclusively with Metal Hammer ahead of it’s official release tomorrow (August 12). It’s a veritable orgy of garage metal and stoner dropkicks that will leave you reaching for the whiskey. If you don’t believe us, why not take a listen?
But what does it all mean?! Well frontman Tommy Hardrocks has provided Hammer with a track-by-track guide “outlining the gossamer thin lyrical concepts that provide a loose narrative for this rock and roll masterpiece.” Or so he says…
Prologue
“This sets the scene for Beyond The Valley Of The Triclops. XII Boar love a skit track and this bad boy lubes you up before thumbing you into the first ear splitting tune of the record.”
Beyond The Valley
“Taking a bastardised version of the riff from our song Triclops we hammered out this stomper of a track about the three-eyed giant who lives on The Island Of Skulls. Simples.”
The Hustle
“Nothing to do with fictional giants, this track is a classic bit of blues-tinged hard rock. The song is about cruising for hot broads as the sun goes down, while pumping tunes at battle volume. Something no one in the band has actually done.”
Strange Kinda Lonesome
“While on tour in Norway I met a total smoke job of a girl at a kebab shop at 3am. I thought she was at the show earlier… but turns out she was just at the kebab shop. Lucky for me my roguishly handsome good looks and killer bants came into play. And, well, the rest is history.”
El Mucho Grande
“One of my favourite tracks on the record; this song is about a cowboy from the future, riding across the wasteland with his girl. No, I wasn’t huffing glue when I wrote this.”
Welcome To Your Doom
“The prelude to another banger of a tune, this time with gratuitous use of royalty free samples.”
Penetrator
“I wrote this song while walking home from work and literally hummed the riff in my head and sang the words. Took it to band practice and was like, ‘Boys I’ve written a song in my head about an evil Viking sword that comes to life and fucks everyone up’. Job done.”
Abyssal Lord
“A song that didn’t make it onto our last record. It just needed a facelift and an exuberant funk ending to make it good. Happy days.”
Black And Blues
“This song is about comedowns. If you like drug metaphors and blues played in a weird E minor kind of style, then you will love the shit out of this track. Beware of the bass tremolo picking as it creates a spooky feel that might be inappropriate for the easily panicked listener.”
Jupiter Aligns
“We’ve been playing this cocksucker live now for a while and people lose their shit to it. We wrote this tune as an homage to ‘80s chuggy rock, but once I’d written a load of space lyrics it completely changed the vibe. Solid banger alert.”
Beggar’s Roost
“Named after a house I saw while cycling through the picturesque village of Compton. This tune is about making the most of the time you’ve got wasting oxygen on planet Earth. You only got one shot at this life so don’t cock it up.”
Triclops
“Taken from our Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof EP, we decided to use this song as the inspiration for this record. It’s a thunderous pounding tune that has been our set closer for many a show. A lot of bands are scared to conjure up some fantastical shit, but we at XII Boar give zero fucks.”
XII Boar play Bloodstock festival on August 12.
