MALACODA have announced the line-up change, furthermore the upcoming EP ‘The Year Walk’, coming out December 3rd, as well as their upcoming cover of Lizzy Borden’s “Me Against the World”, are now available for pre-order.
It seems there’s been yet another shift in MALACODA’s lineup this year. Frontman Lucas Di Mascio comments:
“The past two years have been quite vexing. The pandemic has caused plans to change for everyone and is also giving people a lot of time to think about things. After many discussions about the band and where we all are personally, we came to a decision that it was for the best that Wes (guitars) should step down from his duties in Malacoda. We are in different places in our personal lives – but also as artists, which has made collaborating quite fruitless the past few years.
It’s not all doom and gloom however, as I’ve been the recording guitarist on every Malacoda release since the beginning, bar a few songs or sections here and there. We’ll be able to continue as normal and I’m excited about the new focus we have on the future vision of the band. A big part of that is our new drummer- Kabir Ahmed! We’re excited to start writing new material with him behind the kit, but first we’ve got an EP to release!”
Kabir Ahmed had this to say about joining Malacoda:
“What influenced me to join Malacoda is that the band always had a unique sound. They’ve never tried to be something that already exists. There is a holistic theme with their songwriting- free from the restrictions of one genre. Often music gets limited when it’s confined to a genre and I feel the directions which Malacoda’s writing processes are willing to visit an attractive thing for me as a musician.”
In addition, Malacoda launches a pre-order for their upcoming ep “The Year Walk” which releases December 3rd as well as their upcoming cover of Lizzy Borden’s “Me Against the World”.
The album can be ordered here: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-year-walk-ep/1589560926
Me Against the World: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/malacoda/me-against-the-world-feat-sonic-prophecy
Originally a recording project of multi-instrumentalist and music producer Lucas Di Mascio, Malacoda has persevered and grown throughout the years. Now a trio, the band is ready to unleash the conclusion to their trilogy of EP’s that was written and recorded before the pandemic.
EP Details:
The Year Walk is the third EP Malacoda will release in 2021. Four more songs which build upon the band’s symphonic sound first explored on 2016’s Ritualis Aeterna.
Long time collaborator Michael Farina returns to play drums on select tracks, as well as Ryan Claxton (Tulip, Living Dead Girl) and Andrew Suarez (ex-The Slyde). The haunting album cover was made by the extremely talented Stefan Skjoedt.
Featuring Gabriel Guardiola (Immortal Guardian) on the track Beaten Path as well as a stellar mixing and mastering job by Jeramie Kling (The Absence, Inhuman Condition, Venom Inc.), The Year Walk encompasses everything the band sought to achieve with this direction and closes a long, arduous chapter in Malacoda’s history.
Frontman Lucas Di Mascio had this to say about The Year Walk:
“The majority of the songs that have been released this year were written around 2017 – before the release of our last full length, Restless Dreams. I didn’t really know what to do with these songs because they were so different from Restless Dreams but still were aligned with the sound we had developed on the EP, Ritualis Aeterna. I shelved them for a bit and then decided to rework them when working with an artist who was endorsed by a big guitar brand.
The artist in question wanted to have some metal material to help promote themselves, so we built a new band for the material. I was actually supposed to be the rhythm guitarist for this project- we had a different singer involved. Unfortunately that project never got off the ground after almost a year of working on it and the songs were shelved yet again. In mid 2019 I revisited the songs and wrote a few more after Zak had joined. We were excited with the material and felt it should be a Malacoda release.
We finished drum tracking right as 2019 was ending. While our initial plans drastically changed because of the pandemic, I decided that we should still release this material but just break it into EP’s so we can keep busy in a time without touring.”
This new EP will be made available as digital only and the band has no intentions to tour in support of this release as they continue to observe COVID-19 restrictions in Canada.
TRACKLIST
- The Year Walk
- Beaten Path
- Legacy
- Damage Control
CREDITS
Lucas Di Mascio : Vocals/Guitar/Keys
Zak Stulla : Bass
Stefan Skjoedt : Artwork
Jeramie Kling : Mix/Master
GUEST MUSICIANS
Michael Farina : Drums on track 1 & 4
Andrew Suarez : Drums on track 2
Ryan Claxton : Drums on track 3
Gabriel Guardiola : Keyboard Solo on Track 2
Beth Wilson : Backup vocals on track 2
Wes MacDonald : Guitar solos
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 