PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Some believe Industrial music is a dying genre, but those naysayers will be proven wrong if JUSTIN SYMBOL, the newest face of the NYC alternative club scene (and self-proclaimed “King of Negativity”), has anything to say about it.
New York City’s own JUSTIN SYMBOL is breathing new life into the genre, embracing the classic 90s Industrial Rock aesthetic while simultaneously adding new elements from the modern EDM landscape. With the new nine-track album V Ω I D H E A D, the band sets an exciting template for the future of electronic music. Joined by the exotic synth of Arabian keytarist Baba Yaga and the crash landings of veteran electro-punk drummer Joe Livingston, JUSTIN SYMBOL’s V Ω I D H E A D combines the violent horror theatrics of Rob Zombie, the shape shifting glam and glitz of David Bowie, and the Dadaist electronic experimentation of Throbbing Gristle.
V Ω I D H E A D will be released in October 2014 and is produced by Justin Symbol and Baba Yaga and mixed by Michael Spivack, while mastering credits go to Ryan Schwabe of Maniac Mansion Mastering. Mastering took place at The Headroom in Philadelphia, PA earlier this summer.
“Our new album V Ω I D H E A D is like a modern version of Ministry’s [seminal 1988 masterpiece] The Land of Rape and Honey,” states frontman Justin Symbol. “It’s rock, it’s electronic, it’s Eastern, it’s Western, it’s really eclectic and each song is different, but the pieces all fit together.”
In order to tell the full story of V Ω I D H E A D, JUSTIN SYMBOL will continue to release one video per month for the next eight months. The release of the album will be accompanied by a U.S. tour, which is set to be announced soon.
Just last week, JUSTIN SYMBOL released the new music video for his new single ‘Control’, featuring Daisy Berkowitz of Marilyn Manson, which can be viewed via YouTube here:
The video, as visually captivating as it is sonically entrancing, was directed by Dee Wassell and produced by JUSTIN SYMBOL, with camera work from Ace Bouchard and Mark Phillips and makeup by Jill Hart and Markko Donto “Wolverinna”.
“The ‘Control’ music video is based on a dream I had,” adds Symbol. “I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote it all down. It was filmed over a two day period in an abandoned insane asylum, and it deals with the fears and anxieties that dominate the subconscious.”
The video for ‘Control’ was quickly followed by the music video for ‘Killing an Arab’ – an aggressive electro-punk take on The Cure’s controversial 1979 debut single – available for viewing below. Fans should note that this track is exclusive to the ‘Control’ single and will not be included on V Ω I D H E A D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3mWLelNiKc&feature=youtu.be&list=UUah9FCwGEeZsGS5mlCsZ-fg
Unlike a good portion of modern Industrial offerings, JUSTIN SYMBOL should not be mistaken as a studio project. The band’s wild live performances marry glitter and gore, sexual liberation, and pop cult pageantry in a bizarre shamanistic orgy of the senses that could only have been spawned in the fertile Brooklyn art scene.
JUSTIN SYMBOL is:
Justin Symbol – vocals, bass, programming
Baba Yaga – synths, guitar, programming
Joe Livingston – drums
For more information on JUSITIN SYMBOL, please visit:
www.facebook.com/symboltheband
