Manchester’s leading purveyors of groove-laden, stoner/doom metal, Barbarian Hermit, recently announced their return with a new album ‘Mean Sugar’, set to be released on 2nd August via APF Records.
Written over a 3-year period, ‘Mean Sugar’ is a cathartic creation set against a backdrop that has seen people endure a global pandemic, endless political turmoil, a cost of living crisis and war. During these times, the best coping mechanism is often to go into a room with your friends and focus your energy on playing some very heavy and loud music. It also may just be the heaviest-ever tribute to Northern life.
Frontman Simon Scarlett comments on the video for the latest single and the album’s title track:
“Mean Sugar is about growing up in a northern town. It comes across as boastful and full of bravado, but in reality, it’s precarious and delicate. In the music video, I’ve blended local scenes shot over the last couple of months and snippets from Barbarian Hermit outings. Some of our other music videos have been gregarious and fun, often using green screen. With the Mean Sugar video, I wanted to create something to contrast those, with no green screen and straight footage, but I didn’t want to lose the trippy visual aesthetic. Still striking, very local and relevant to us as a band, I hope this video gives viewers another glimpse of what being Barbarian Hermit is.”
Huge distorted groovy slabs of guitars collide with Scralett’s no-nonsense vocals and planet-starting drums to generate some low-down doom metal that scrapes the gates to hell. It’s slow, viciously heavy and set to crush the air out of the listener’s lungs.
Check it out, here
Find out more via the bands Facebook
Pre order the album here
