Hubris Cannon’s new album ‘Revised’ is a searing, multifaceted exploration of societal disintegration and personal upheaval, delivered through a potent amalgamation of hardcore, metal, and grind influences. What began as a solitary pandemic experiment by front-person Twitch has metamorphosed into a cohesive band effort, resulting in a record that is both intensely personal and politically charged.
After two years of sold-out demos and merchandise, and live shows up and down the East Coast, Hubris Cannon has finally unveiled their first full-length album, ‘Revised’.
Recorded at Dead Register’s private studio, mixed and mastered by Connor Haines of MUGSHOT, the album features guest and backing vocals from members of bands like ABRUPT DECAY (mentioned in our recent feature here), MALEVICH, and WITHERED.
This 23-minute whirlwind is packed with nerd references, positive thinking, and anti-fascist rhetoric, ready to make a powerful statement.
‘Revised’ marks a significant milestone for the band, being the first time the recorded material is more than just Twitch in front of a computer.
The album is accompanied by intensely detailed visuals and merchandise, with two separate two-week runs booked for the second quarter of the year.
Hubris Cannon is a self-sufficient grinding metal machine, handling their own touring, flyer-making, artwork, gear-fixing, and even their own van.
The theme of the album, “wishful thinking in the face of armageddon,” is reflected in the cover art created by Twitch. Each track dives into contemporary issues and emotional struggles, from nationalism and political despair to personal conflict and resilience.
To delve deeper into the themes and creative process behind ‘Revised’, read the full interview below where the band members discuss their journey, the production of the album, and their plans for the future.
Let’s start with the cover art because it’s intriguing and really grabs the eye. Who created it? What’s the message behind it? How does it relate to the meaning of individual tracks or the album as a whole?
I am responsible for all the art on the record and the booklet. There are a lot of floral metaphors among the lyrics to the album juxtaposed with ideations on fear and the end. The cover piece hopefully underlines the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty that are prominent among the words in a more direct way. The theme for “Revised” is stated simply as “wishful thinking in the face of armageddon” and the imagery hopefully reflects that in a meaningful way.
We are angry and all parts of the aesthetic are rooting in that anger. I’m not sure how people can remove themselves from their writing or create something apolitical. My compositions all stem from a specific reaction or emotion to the things I see and experience.
Can you throw in some comments track by track? I’d love to dive into the meaning of each song.
Ravages of War – A lot of the lyrics on the album are centered around the rise of these new modern nationalist movements and their intent of consuming and destroying any progress the world has made over the years. Ravages of War specifically deals with the personal desperation felt while watching people give in to bargain basement propaganda.
Waste – Waste is a continuation of the previous themes. This time with a focus on the feeling of helplessness that comes along with seeing these horrendous conservative values build and fester in the hearts and minds of the people around me. As a long-time resident of the deep red south, I’m subjected to conversations and ideations that stem—either intentionally or unintentionally—from hate. While I do understand that it comes from a lack of proper education / information mixed with a heart dose of “fear of change” and empathize with the situations that led to such a mindset, the fact of the matter remains that they are attempting to assuage their misguided anxiety by giving into actual, factual facism. Based on all empirical evidence, there is nothing that can be done to change their mind.
Sungrass – This is more where the “wishful thinking” kicks in a bit. Sungrass focuses on the joy of watching newer grass-roots movements blossom within the progressive sphere. Of course there’s a longstanding history of mass direct action and protest and the changes that have been made because of it, but the mainstream acceptance it has garnered in the past half decade has been astonishing. Even if we can’t stop the end, we will rebuild from the ashes.
City of Traitors – Now we move into more personal territory. City of Traitors is a direct response to my coming to terms with the anger that has built up due to the rise of this—somehow—more intolerant brand of conservatism. My core pacifistic pillars are on shakier ground than ever. No matter how hard you strive to be the best possible version of yourself, there will always be lingering hypocrisies within your system of beliefs. Addressing that and realizing that you may just, in fact, be wrong isn’t as easy as we’d like to tell ourselves.
Faith’s Reward is about the moments that follow those world-shattering epiphanies. It isn’t easy to work through moments that feel personally tailored to break your spirits. Everything—whether personally or politically— can feel hopeless at times. I have lost days to such darkness. It’s important to remember that everything is ephemeral, it will all pass.
Strip furthers the self introspection by explicitly dealing with emotional dysregulation and panic attacks. There are moments that feel like you’ve split in two, your subconscious gently trying to use logic to coax your body out of the throes of paralysis. There is hope in the idea that there is something to learn from even the harshest experience and eventually things will be easier.
Price of Progress – But even if things get easier, there is a cost. Price of Progress is concerned with the idea of giving up everything you believe in order to achieve a single goal. This is where we slowly filter back into a political bend. While that does extend to being a warning to not lose yourself in the anxiety of our current march to extinction, the song specifically addresses the way in which those that tout “freedom” and “Christ’s love” as talking points have no qualms sacrificing any benevolent ideas for the sake of a new world order forged from hate and white supremacy.
Bitter Blossom – While mental health awareness is more prevalent than ever, there is still a decent bit of gray area when it comes to those dealing with trauma. PTSD physically changes the brain. It takes a long spell of trial and error to both diagnose and properly treat it, and even then, management of the symptoms can be difficult. It’s important to remind anyone that has to go through the horrors of a traumatic experience and the equally painful mental consequences of things beyond their control that they are loved and heard. That they aren’t a bad person and none of it is their fault. Bitter Blossom hopefully says that well enough.
Doomsday is the meeting of two conflicting ideas that refuse to back down, even at the expense of their own being. Sometimes it’s important to allow for a moral defeat if it allows you to overcome larger trials in a later time. You can’t fight for change if you’re already dead.
Chromatic Pt. 1: Star / Sphere – The last two songs on the LP both bluntly deal with the cowards who hide their feelings of inadequacy behind their “right to bear arms” and the cost of life associated with it. Star / Sphere is an immediate reaction to the trend of conservative judges giving preferential treatment to murderers who sit comfortably behind either a badge or just a white face.
Chromatic Pt. 2: Skycloud – The idea that guns make you safer is a fallacy. Statistically, the gun you own is going to kill you or your family member. It’s not going to protect you, it is a safety blanket for the uninformed. The deaths of so many children, both in schools and in their homes, are on the hands of every surly conservative lawmaker that has blocked attempts at controlling the issue at hand.
How have you expanded from a solo project to a full lineup? And while we’re at it, how was the production process this time? How was it different?
Even though it was intended as a solo, early pandemic writing exercise, people liked the first two demos enough that the idea of playing live finally made its way on my plate. It only made sense to grab some talented folks with whom I already played music and see if they were interested in bringing this all to life. They obliged and we’ve been playing steadily ever since.
Until the production of “Revised”, all material was recorded by myself in a sideroom. So it was a much different, easier experience to record with a full band. Our friends in the band Dead Register (great people, better band) were gracious enough to allow us full use of their extensive home studio while they were on tour. Everybody is a proficient, professional player and we knocked out the instrumentation super quick. Having an insanely skilled live drummer for the first time on a Hubris Cannon recording brought a new life to the songs.
Post production ended up taking way longer than expected. The initial mixes took months to get back and then took further months of me ironing out the rougher bits before I was happy with how they sounded.
What gigs do you have lined up in the next few months? Also, it’s noticeable that some of you guys have been or are involved in other projects. Can you please share what’s going on with those other bands?
Right now the only show on the books is with Zao and No/Mas on July 28 (in Purgatory at the Masquerade) and the final show for ATL’s emo heroes Juna alongside our friends in Of the Vine on July 31 (at East Atlanta’s 529) but there are a few shows we can’t quite announce yet.
We are currently booking a tour for the end of the year. It can be difficult hitting the roads sometimes given that we are also currently active in other bands that also tour.
Three of us (myself, Eric, and Zach) are in a funeral doom band called Lost Hours which followed a similar path of me-in-a-bedroom-gone-full-band.
After our last LP (out on Propitious Artifacts, an offshoot of Stickfigure Records) got delayed for almost two years, we ended up focusing almost exclusively on HC, but now that “Revised” is finally out, it’s going to be nice to play slower for a bit. I have two records worth of material either written or demoed, so it will be a busier third quarter for Lost Hours.
Outside of the series of one-offs and inactive projects we’re all constantly cycling through, Zach is the drummer for Pope Eyes (an insane, as-twiddly-as-angry hardcore band) and I play bass in Turn Cold (ignorant Atlanta thrash—on tour in October).
