Brodequin come with a long and sordid history. Jamie and Mike Bailey have been banging people’s heads together since 1998. Their first album catapulted the brothers far beyond their kingdom of Knoxville, Tennessee. But after seizing the throne as one of the most brutal rulers in all of metal, the band disappeared into the shadows.
Today, after 20 years, Brodequin are returning with Harbinger of Woe. The band’s fourth album lives up to their namesake. It’s dark and torturous, but also technically exquisite. Heck, some might even call it a work of art.
Watch the medieval video for “Of Pillars and Trees”, which was created by Matti Way of From the North Films: https://youtu.be/yh7awqeuZJQ
Harbinger of Woe comes out March 22, 2024.
Pre-order: https://shop.season-of-mist.com/list/brodequin-harbinger-of-woe
Pre-save: https://orcd.co/harbingerofwoepresave
“Of Pillars and Trees” is classic Brodequin. Mike’s riffs churn like severed limbs through a meat grinder. New drummer Brennan Shackelford pings his cymbals with all the murderous intent of a spiked mace. Heck, the death growls are nasty enough to make you think that Jamie is sucking the blood of his enemies through a straw.
As with every Brodequin song, “Of Pillars and Trees” is rooted in real events. “This song finds its inspiration in the historical practices that involved the utilization of trees for the purpose of torture and execution”,” Jamie explains. “Among the myriad methods employed, a prominent example was the affixing of an individual to a pillar, or, more commonly, a tree trunk through the use of long iron nails”.
But “Of Pillars and Trees” also branches out into new territory for the band. “The creation process for Pillars started out much like any other Brodequin track”, Mike says. “It wasn’t until the mid-section came together that it began to diverge. I wanted to slow things down a bit but add some depth with multiple guitar tracks instead of just droning a single riff. As the layers were being written, I kept hearing a synth pattern in my head. But instead of using an actual synth, I recreated what I was hearing on my guitar, using plenty of reverb and delay to get the tone as close to what I was imagining as possible”.
