Bristol, UK-based band RXPTRS – who blend rock, metal, punk, and hardcore with a seamlessness that is enviable, creating something that is unique that seethes with boundless energy – have announced their forthcoming album Living Without Death’s Permission, out June 24 via Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records. Pre-order it here: blacklightmediarecords.com/rxptrs
The album will come in two vinyl variants. The EU/UK Exclusive is White/Black Marble while the US Exclusive is Transparent Pink.
To celebrate the good news, RXPTRS have dropped the new song “Rock Bottom (Is a Stepping Stone).” Listen here. The video will arrive next week, so stay tuned.
“The idea of a world where money and religion meet is ridiculous,” the band, who were tipped by Alternative Press as one of 20 UK bands you need to know, says. “They don’t go together. Spirituality and greed are total opposite ends of the spectrum. So, to see celebrity religious figures on TV asking people to send them money, while they fly around in private jets, makes our skin crawl. ‘Rock Bottom (Is a Stepping Stone)’ is a story of someone who gives their hard-earned money to people on TV – to then realize later in life that it’s all been a scam.“
Living Without Death’s Permission track listing:
01. Burning Pages
02. Rock Bottom (Is a Stepping Stone)
03. Dead Awake (Pretty as the Drugs We Take)
04. Demons in My Headphones
05. Collapse
06. Gutterflies
07. The Death Rattle
08. Cold Ground
09. The Frail
10. Let Me Die How I Want
About RXPTRS + Living Without Death’s Permission:
RXPTRS (pronounced “Raptors”) formed in Bristol, UK in 2018. Now, the quintet’s full-length Living Without Death’s Permission finally arrives. It’s 10 tracks that cover a lot of musical and emotional ground.
All of the members actively participated in their home city’s fertile music and arts scene before finding each other. “We had all previously been in numerous bands, each came with their own flavors of drama and shortfalls. When the five of us got together, something clicked, the usual bullshit got pushed aside, and our sights were set where we needed them to really knuckle down,” says bassist Sam Leworthy.
When it came to starting work on their debut full-length, the majority of the writing sessions were a “lockdown lock-in.” Due to the pandemic, RXPTRS were unable to get together in the rehearsal room as they would have otherwise. However, three of the members live together, which made things a little easier, and they would bounce tracks around between them via email, before the restrictions were finally lifted and they could all be in the same place.
The result is a markedly varied collection, changing gears constantly and unafraid to switch things up. “We never approach anything with a genre or an audience in mind, it has to be what we’re feeling in that moment. If it comes out punk, sick. If it sounds metal, awesome, if it doesn’t sound like anything else, even better. Nothing’s off the table,” explains vocalist Simon Roach. “We all come from different backgrounds and have all been inspired by so many different genres. We wanted to hear a sound that mixed all those influences, so we thought, ‘Let’s be that band.’ I totally get that genres help steer people, but we don’t want that stability. I feel like nothing great can come from a comfort zone.“
Living Without Death’s Permission is a phrase Roach coined when he was told he should be dead following a near-fatal accident. “I nearly got decapitated in a horrendous car crash a few years back. It was a bit of a miracle, and since that, I’ve kinda looked at life differently. I watched that film Final Destination when I was younger, and that incident kinda reminded me of that – life is fragile, so live it up, carpe diem, and all that.” When it came to lyrics, Roach wanted to “paint life from my perspective,” his experiences coming close to death on more than one occasion opening his eyes to a number of things. “I wanted to touch on subjects that bring me joy, baffle me, disgust me, entertain me and so on. I have a lot to say, and if I am gonna die, I’m gonna throw my two cents everywhere while I can,” he says.
The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios in Folkestone, who the band has worked with since their 2019 debut EP, having a great rapport. COVID again had an effect on the recording sessions, limiting the number of people who could be in the studio at any one time, but they placed their trust in one another and Craggs to get the best possible results. This all ultimately worked out in their favor, delivering a record that will introduce the wider world to RXPTRS and open their eyes to what this young band is capable of delivering. Looking to the road ahead, Leworthy sees “blood, sweat and tears, and not all our own” while Roach says, “I feel like this is just the beginning. Our most recent track has put us in the ears of more and more people worldwide, and we can’t wait to get in front of every one of them at a live show. We have a hell of a lot to say, and we’ll be like juggernauts until we say it all.“
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