Metal Anarchy

Author & Punisher will be releasing a new album, titled “Nocturnal Birding,” on October 3 via Relapse Records. Pre-orders can be found HERE.

“Nocturnal Birding” Track Listing:

01. “Meadowlark”
02. “Titanis” (feat. Kuntari)
03. “Mute Swan” (feat. Megan Oztrosits of Couch Slut)
04. “Black Storm Petrel” (feat. Fange)
05. “Titmouse”
06. “Titmice”
07. “Rook”
08. “Thrush”

Mastermind Tristan Shone said the following:

“When I sat down to start writing this album, I knew I wanted to make songs based on birdsong. The actual first guitar riff is one of the meadowlark’s songs. When you listen to ‘Rook,’ that melody is the rook’s sound. That track is us mimicking one of the rooks’ many songs. I wrote all my tracks around the rhythms and melodies of birds I researched or heard in the wild.”

He also added:

“[The record is] dedicated to those who have lost their lives traveling across the border from Mexico to the USA through a cruel policy of prevention by deterrence. This land is not ours to hold onto nor was it ours to take.

I’ve been doing my waterdrop work, which has been eye-opening for me. Border Angels is a group that drops water along the US/Mexico border. Two years ago, they opened up for volunteers again and I got to go out on a hike with them. I was out in Jacumba where I started doing hikes once a month, dropping water and getting to know some people, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

It was very humbling and there was always this soundtrack of the birds out there through different seasons. For me it was an awakening: my eyes and ears were open to nature and this cruel and unnecessary humanitarian crisis at the border.”

A video for the first single, “Titanis” (feat. Kuntari), can be found below. Kuntari commented:

“It’s hard to imagine the organic local sequence from us blend with monstrous industrial sound from Tristan. After many hours of discussion we instantly clicked and agreed where the song ended up. The results are beyond our imagination, Tristan easily fluids into fresh territory and we don’t have a border to break to. By far this is one of the most awe inspiring experience for us, not to mention our video production which is insanely epic and hilarious at the same time. The most memorable moment is we share a good laugh along the process.”