When Black Tusk bass player Athon tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident in 2014, the Savannah, Georgia self-described ‘swamp metallers’ responded in the only way they knew how: kick back into gear, maintain their velocity, use it as a cathartic spur.
Released in Athon’s wake, 2016’s Pillars Of Ash was a raw and ravaging response. With new recruit, former Kylesa bassist Corey Barhorst - who had then replaced the late Brian Duke - it used rhythms as spark plugs as taut, rust-encrusted riffs loaded up on punk spirit, racing around your nervous system with daredevil urgency.
A mere two years later, Black Tusk are haring around the bend again with a new album, T.C.B.T., due to be let out of the Season Of Mist Records traps on August 17, and we have a special preview in the friction-inducing form of Agali. Grafting on a bit more of Kylesa’s DNA, its pounding groove is the motor for a strain-at-the-leash, three-and-a-half-minute surge whose Kvlertak-level adrenaline rush will leave you picking up your senses from all four corners of your room.
Time is not for wasting, so strap on your goggles, rev up your engines and wig out to Agali below!
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