Belgian progressive metal/hardcore unit BEAR will release their Propaganda full-length this May via Pelagic Records, and today we’re thrilled to give you the band’s new massive song & music video called “KUMA”!
BEAR invokes the spirit of great hardcore bands of the ‘90s; bands like Catharsis or Gehenna, bands whose raw energy, uncompromising delivery, and relentlessly violent performance was as energizing and invigorating as it was puzzling for the oftentimes baffled audience, who had their teeth caved in by guitars thrown in their direction, and a frontman charging through them like a derailed freight train, coming to a flaming halt at the end of the room, behind the mixing desk.
BEAR hails from Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city and home to a thriving local metal and hardcore scene since the ‘90s, which is when members of BEAR first met. This year marks their 10th anniversary as a band. With three albums released since on Let It Burn and Basick Records, performances at festivals such as Graspop, Roadburn, Rock Herk, Euroblast, UK Tech Fest, Complextiy Fest, and headlining tours throughout Europe and India, the band has made themselves a name in the heavy music underground scene as one of the most punishing live acts out there.
The first few seconds of opener “Dissolve Dissipate” leave no doubt that latest album, Propaganda, is angry — an album against propaganda; against the manipulative character of communication and product-placement that we face each time we turn on the TV, walk through the aisles of a supermarket, or tune in to Spotify without a paid subscription. And while blatant ideological propaganda is being camouflaged behind product propaganda within an endless floating spectrum of ever-growing, artificially created needs and demands, ideology is as a matter of fact constantly being reinstated and affirmed.
BEAR alludes to all of this with metaphors and artwork referencing historic propaganda and the political practices used by the terrible dictators of the 20th century presented in a pop-art style that is equal parts ironic and iconic. BEAR criticizes propaganda by making Propaganda of their ownm with their very own aural bombs, symbols, and manifestos. Fear the BEAR.
In advance of the release of Propaganda, apart from our premiere, MetalSucks unveiled the brand-new video for “Apollo’s Heist.” Issues the band, “‘Apollo’s Heist’ is all about fighting a fight you cannot win, and even when you think you’ve won, there will always be some sort of revenge. So, the story continues. This was the first song we wrote for the new album, so it’s only fitting that it kicks off the new chapter for BEAR.”
Adds MetalSucks,
“At various points, Propaganda dips its toes into the mathcore experimentalism of early Dillinger Escape Plan and Car Bomb, the fiery noise rock of Unsane and Today Is The Day, and — as on Propaganda’s first single, ‘Apollo’s Heist’ — the sublimely elastic groove of Meshuggah and Intronaut. All of these elements are wrapped up in adroitly-written songs that combine sheer aggression with infectious hooks in the best possible way.”
