Crucial Velocity recently announced Controller, the follow-up to their self-titled 2023 album release, is forthcoming and due to drop January 10, 2025. Heavier, leaner and darker than the debut album, Controller is ready for the masses.
They have released a music video for new single “Hollow”.
The track moves as a commentary on humanity’s failure to learn from history, opening with Georg Hegel’s timeless quote: ‘The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.’ Accompanied by a video by Wayne Joyner, known for his work with Dream Theater and Tremonti, “Hollow” showcases the band’s vision of melding dark atmospheres with hook-driven harmonies.
Crucial Velocity’s Nate Bauer explains “‘Hollow’ was written after a conversation with a friend about ideology. Ideology, in my opinion, is the root of all evil. Ideology pushes politics and religion into dangerous cult like territory. Ideology promotes thoughtless thought in that you basically surrender yourself to whatever the ideology is without feeling the need to really think about what it is you are following. People placing complete trust in the ideology and the leaders who promote them. We have seen this happen over centuries with the rise of very evil leaders or civilizations. And yet, here we are in 2024 and supposedly intelligent people are still being caught up in dangerous ideological movements. We need to get back to pragmatic thought. Deep thoughtful thought. Androo O’Hearn captured the anger in the lyrics with his death metal growls while still maintaining the melodic approach that defines the Crucial Velocity sound.”
“On the new album, Controller, we took the elements that we loved from the debut and basically magnified them. The songs are more concise and heavy yet always melodic. There is a flow and a consistency throughout. We do not shy away from our influences. We embrace the classic hard rock and metal from the 80’s and 90’s while keeping it fresh and creating a unique Crucial Velocity sound. Fans of Queensrÿche, Alice In Chains, Ghost, Black Sabbath and even prog metal will align with this album.” – Nate Bauer
“Hollow”:
“Brainstorm”:
Crucial Velocity:
Matt Thompson (King Diamond) – Drums
Androo O’Hearn (Shaolin Death Squad) – Vocals, Keys
Michael Harris (Chastain/Harris, Darkology, solo artist) – Lead Guitar
Nate Bauer – Guitar, Bass, Keys, Songwriter