Godsticks team up with Tesseract’s Daniel Tompkins for new single Denigrate

Godsticks
Godsticks (Image credit: Eleanor Jane)

Godsticks (opens in new tab) have announced details of their new studio album and released a video for the first single Denigrate, which features a guest appearance from Tesseract (opens in new tab) frontman Daniel Tompkins (opens in new tab).

The follow-up to 2017’s Faced With Rage is titled Inescapable and it’ll arrive on February 7 through Kscope – and although not a concept album, it is said to shine “an inquisitive light on frontman Darran Charles’ struggle with inner demons which gave the songs a new level of intimacy.”

Darran explains: “Lyrically, I’ve always shared personal thoughts, feelings and experiences but in a very ambiguous way. For Inescapable – in a conscious effort not to repeat ourselves – I thought I’d be a little more self-reflective and perhaps examine some of my inner demons.

“I have a strange relationship with music, and especially playing guitar. I would struggle to survive without either, but equally they have made my life mentally torturous because my own self-worth is completely wrapped up in them. 

“I used to be very much a perfectionist in my early years, and while some people may wear that as a badge of honour, I eventually viewed it as huge heavy weight dragging down. It was a long time before I arrived at the realisation that perfection was impossible to achieve.”

As for Denigrate, Tompkins was invited to contribute vocal harmonies, which is said to add “an extra layer of aggression and energy,” while the promo was directed by George Laycock of Blacktide Audio/Visual.

Drummer Tom Price says: “Everyone in the band was so excited about the concept, but when we arrived on set and saw a large table full of cakes, sweets, chocolate, sugar, sprinkles, honey and all manners of confectionary, the magnitude of what we had all let ourselves in for finally dawned on us! 

“By the end of the shoot we were completely covered in everything – it was like The Great British Bake Off meets Apocalypse Now! 

“It was so much fun to make, but despite several spins in the washing machine I still can‘t get that sweet sickly smell out of my jeans!”

Godsticks have a handful of UK dates planned which will take place in April.

Godsticks: Inescapable (opens in new tab)

Godsticks: Inescapable (opens in new tab)
Godsticks return with Inescapable - the follow-up to 2017 album Faced With Rage. It'll launch in February and feature the lead single Denigrate which features Tesseract's Dan Tompkins.

Godsticks: Inescapable
1. Denigrate
2. Victim
3. Relief
4. Surrender
5. Numb 
6. Change
7. Breathe
8. Time
9. Resist

Godsticks 2020 UK tour
Apr 02: Cardiff Fuel Rock Club
Apr 03: London Black Heart
Apr 04: Manchester Gullivers
Apr 05: Edinburgh Opium

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.