Reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated – the North has risen again. Close to five years since their last record, Leeds denizens AUTOBAHN today return with the release of their third record, Ecstasy of Ruin.
The time away begets a few changes, most notably the replacement of their drummer with a handful of machines and a refined triangulation of Northern influence: Hull’s COUM Transmissions, Sheffield Steel City and their own gothic Leeds. These four have always displayed a penchant for the dark, but on Ecstasy of Ruin they’ve pointedly honed their Dance Macabre to a particularly sharp end, now more determinedly Wax Trax with a Yorkshire accent. The drum programming hits with a metallic ferocity, guitars are set firmly to overdrive, and singer Craig Johnson routinely sounds especially aggrieved. This is a record clearly written as a survey of post-Brexit mess, a skewering of that stupidity and a re-direction of the anger it elicited. Think of it as soundtrack to a second Threads, after-the-end music, only this time the events are a little less rooted in fiction. The opening track is titled ‘Post-History’. It’s not for nothing.
Ecstasy of Ruin is available digitally, on CD and as a limited white vinyl pressing, in an edition of 500, 50 of which come with a signed A3 risograph print, now available only via select indie stores. To mark the album’s release, the band play at Jumbo Records in Leeds, and then tour sporadically throughout the UK and EU for the rest of the year. All dates below, more to come soon
Buy/stream/download Ecstasy of Ruin here
TOUR DATES
April
28th – Jumbo Records, Leeds – priority entrance on purchase of record
29th – Chameleon, Nottingham
May
6th – Shacklewell Arms, London
18th – Olympic Cafe, Paris
19th – Foul Weather Festival, Le Harve
June
29th – Night & Day, Manchester
