Moon Tooth release a final preview of their highly-anticipated new album, Phototroph (May 13, Pure Noise Records) with today’s release of “Alpha Howl” and its accompanying, “Goodfellas” inspired video.
“There’s nothing more precious in life than finding your true purpose,” explains vocalist John Carbone of the themes behind the raucous track which made its debut via Jose Mangin’s Liquid Metal yesterday. “It’s a miracle in and of itself. Equally impacting is the misery of finding it and then being kept from it. When I’m home, sleeping in a comfy bed in my comfy apartment, I toss and turn furiously feeling in every sense of the word, restless. But touring all these years, sleeping on filthy hardwood floors in punk houses, wearing the same sweat-drenched show clothes from days ago, I sleep like a baby because my heart, mind and spirit are nourished. Of course it’s important to remember my privilege: I have an apartment, a bed, and I am grateful, but I have worked to put food on the table doing things I hate and having found true purpose, I think it’s reasonable to want to work my ass off at that for survival. ‘Alpha Howl’ is about emotionally, philosophically, and spiritually starving to death.”
Speaking to the background on yet another creative and impressive video, guitar player Nick Lee says of the Tom Flynn-directed clip: “We had been working through a few more ‘serious’ video concepts for ‘Alpha Howl’ but once the ‘Goodfellas’ idea happened we just couldn’t stop laughing and knew it was the winner. We’re four Italian-Americans from Long Island so that movie is just essential and over the years we’ve fielded plenty of jokes around having a ‘Carbone’ and a ‘Romanelli’ in the band. I remember one interviewer making a joke about reading the names and thinking ‘what is this, the Long Island mafia?’ It’s obviously not meant to be tied to the lyrics or anything but it was incredibly fun to make and we hope people will get some laughs out of it!”
Moon Tooth have been praised for their unique spin on prog/metal, with Rolling Stone saying “not since the early days of Mars Volta has a rock band managed to sound so wildly adventurous,” Pitchfork noting that the “band bursts with enthusiasm and rabid energy, as if Mastodon’s apocalyptic visions were replaced with cosmic wonder,” and Revolver dubbing them as “awe-inducing.”
The Long Island-based band have released a trio of songs in advance of the 11-song collection’s release: “Carry Me Home” via a vampire-infused video (
https://youtu.be/85d48EftwaY), the psychedelic clip for “The Conduit” (
https://youtu.be/5bc6mxJYk9U) and the narrative piece for “Nymphaeaceae” (
https://youtu.be/R3ZolNyLfN0).
Moon Tooth is vocalist John Carbone, guitar player Nick Lee, drummer Ray Marte, and bass player Vincent Romanelli. The Long Island-based band self-released their debut album, Chromaparagon, in early 2016. Metal Injection, in one of Moon Tooth’s earliest reviews, said the foursome “establish a riveting precedent of what can be created within the wide parameters of modern progressive music.” The band went on to catch the attention of heavy music fans, critics and labels alike, leading to Pure Noise Records signing Moon Tooth and re-releasing their widely-praised album, Crux, in 2019. The 11-song collection, co-produced by Machine (King Crimson, Every Time I Die) and Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, led to the band being championed by Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, leading to placements on both outlet’s Best of 2019 year-end lists.
Pre-order here:
https://www.purenoisestoreuk.com/collections/moon-tooth
"Phototroph" tracklist:
1. I Revere
2. Back Burner
3. Deathwish Blues
4. The I That Never Dies
5. Alpha Howl
6. O My Isle
7. The Conduit
8. Nymphaeaceae
9. Grip On The Ridge
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