Hailing from Delaware, Simulakra are bringing an aggressive, morbid approach to metallic hardcore on their upcoming album, The Infection Spreads, set for release May 24th via DAZE. The band’s most cohesive work yet, the record spans across ten invigorating songs centered around a story of disease, death, and government control. Today, the band shares first single “Fading Away”. Clocking in at just under two minutes, the track blazes through towering riffs, fast tempo drums, and bludgeoning vocals. In the accompanying video, the band splices between performance shots and unnerving imagery, setting a sense of the tension found throughout the album.
Speaking on “Fading Away”, vocalist Dom Pabon states:
“This track is about a deceased person that’s living in a constant replay of their past existence. I wanted to write a song that reminds myself to not live in the past but more-so the moment.”
Formed in 2018, Simulakra’s members boast a heady repertoire, also playing in bands like Foreign Hands, Vicious Embrace and Gridiron to name a few. The lineup is made up of Dom Pabon (vocals), Xavier Wilson (guitar), Jack Beatson (guitar), Tyler Norris (bass), and Tyler B (drums). Coming out the gate with a three song demo, the band began to grab attention with their 2019 EP, Tales from the Fevered Subconscious, leading them to play festivals like FYA and LDB. On their upcoming debut LP, The Infection Spreads, the band worked with producer and mixer Wyatt Oberholzer (Chemical Fix) and the vocals were tracked by Brandon Watkins (Year of the Knife). Not only is The Infection Spreads the band’s most collaborative effort, but also their most experimental, as the songs thrive off the metallic hardcore sound they put forth on past releases while also incorporating more death metal-leaning elements and even tapping into grindcore at moments.
Expanding on the concept of the album Pabon says:
“The record has an overall theme of sickness and plague. It essentially tells the story of a government telling the mass population that they have things under control when that’s not the case, and it’s only getting worse and worse. These ideas tie into everything surrounding the record, from the art to the emergency broadcast trailer, to the clips of hospitals, biological weapons, and general corruption in the music video.”
