Today Buñuel, a literal supergroup of global significance, announces plans to release the new double album, Mansuetude via Skin Graft Records and Italy’s Overdrive Records on October 25.
Buñuel boasts the singular vocals and razor sharp lyrics of Eugene S. Robinson (ex-Oxbow) and a powerhouse Italian trio comprising guitarist Xabier Iriondo (Afterhours, A Short Apnea), bassist Andrea Lombardini (The Framers) and drummer Franz Valente (Il Teatro Degli Orrori). Mansuetude was produced by Timo Ellis, and features guests including Jacob Bannon (lead singer of Converge), guitarist Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard, Tomahawk, The Denison Kimball Trio), vocalist Megan Osztrosits (Couch Slut), cellist Andrea Beninati and David Binney on alto saxophone and vocals.
The announcement of Mansuetude is accompanied by the release of lead single, “Drug Burn”.
Buñuel shares: “One of the steadfast rules the Hells Angels used to tout to members was NO DRUG BURNS. Which just goes to show, there really IS honor among, well you know. Following a wayward path to an even more wayward song Buñuel’s rendering of said BURN will make your ears (and eyes if you’re lucky enough to see the video) burn. Crunchy, melodic and harder than a lot of hardcore, it’s a travelog into places your mom told you to steer clear of.”
Listen to the single below.
Buñuel have always been led by instinct and the id-like impulse to express unfiltered emotion through song. They form a close musical alliance, with a seemingly innate ability to create music that warps and buckles with complexity, freedom, tenderness and primeval energy all at once.
The title, Mansuetude – meaning “meekness” or “gentleness” – might seem like a juxtaposition. The record is, in Eugene’s words “extreme but articulate.” A double album with three sides. A balancing act performed for and by the unbalanced.
Drummer Franz comments that “Buñuel is a name that embodies a certain cultural and literary reference, which evokes an entire world. Like his films, our Buñuel is surrealism. We take the listeners into a place that’s suspended between dream and reality.”
“What we’re doing with Buñuel is to carve out a very specific glimpse… partly into hearts of darkness, but more specifically into the depth of our secrets,” says Eugene. “Secrets we keep from each other, ourselves and whatever futures we’ve imagined for ourselves. We are ultimately trying to communicate something direct and deadly about the human condition.”
Throughout, Buñuel takes every opportunity to stretch their musical tendrils towards discomfort, surrealism and the deconstruction of tradition, as they reach absolute abandon. Mansuetude dives into the eye of the storm and beyond, encompassing many moods, from post-hardcore to avant-noise, hard blues to post-industrial, from symphonic thrash to metal to free-jazz, all played at great cost.
Buñuel makes music for those willing to take a closer, unflinching look at the depths of human instinct, and on Mansuetude the band have created an album that will free the listener of evil spirits and let the malignant influences loose. Mansuetude is a twenty- first century exorcism – right on time for the end time.
Pre-order Mansuetude here.
Tracklisting:
“Who Missed Me”
“Drug Burn”
“Class”
“Movement No. 201”
“Bleat”
“A killing on the beach”
“Leather Bar”
“High.Speed.Chase”
“American Steel”
“Fixer”
“Trash”
“Pimp”
“A Room In Berlin”
“Drug Burn”:
(Photo – Annapaola Martin)