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HARLOTT Presents "The Joyful Stain” Single

“The Joyful Stain” is the latest single from long-running Australian thrashers, HARLOTT. The track appears on the band’s upcoming Exsequiis full-length, set for release on September 11th via Metal Blade Records! The band comments, “‘The Joyful Stain’ is an homage to ‘the lucky country’ that we call home; a second-rate first-world dystopia governed by corruption, stupidity, and indifference.”

Watch HARLOTT’s previously released video for “Trial By Liar” HERE.

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After a six-year gap, Exsequiis marks the boldest leap forward in HARLOTT’s  career. Denser, harsher, and more confident than ever – a razor-sharp sound picture built on world-class guitar work, relentless momentum and lyrics that cast a jaundiced eye over our bitterly divided world. The death of the gods, delivered by thrash metal artisans in the prime of their lives.

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"Detritus Of The Final Age (2020) was a great experience in digging out sounds and ideas that we would have been too trepidant to explore," explains guitarist/vocalist Andrew Hudson. "For Exsequiis, we went further into that, but with the confidence that it would work as it had done before."

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When describing the band's creative process on Detritus Of The Final Age, Hudson notes, “Whether it's lyrics or riffs or breakdowns, I always make sure that every song has at least one bit that makes you go ‘fuck yeeeeah.’" With Exsequiis, Harlott tripled-down on this strategy, ensuring the "fuck yeeeeahs are continuously overlapping for 46 minutes. Although undoubtedly a band with their own intrinsic identity, there is still much fun for the dedicated thrasher in spotting specific inspirational moments – a pinch of Arise-era Sepultura here, a ‘90s Overkill groove there, the odd touch of Testament technicality or crossover gang chant. However, when asked what HARLOTT regards as thrash metal's gold standard, the response is unequivocal: "Does anyone ever answer this question with something other than Reign In Blood?" Rick Rubin's razor-sharp, in-your-face production on Slayer's 1986 benchmark release is a fair pointer to the sound of Exsequiis, the band's fullest, harshest sound picture yet. Bassist/vocalist Tom Richard's bass is especially well served, with an interesting tonal dominance in certain passages, but every layer is rammed upfront for maximum head-caving impact.

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Lyrics remain in the depressingly real world, the band preferring not to embroider some supernatural phantasmagoria but instead casting a jaundiced eye over our bitterly divided current climate. "It's been a pretty interesting time to live through politically and socially," admitsHudson. "Disinformation appears to be the new normal and a population obsessed with content creation and online participation has really exposed some things that I think we were all probably happier being ignorant of."

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Find preorders at

metalblade.com/harlott

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