ALL SHALL PERISH have released their first new song in fifteen years. "Be As Kings, Be As Gods" was produced by Zack Ohren, who has worked with MACHINE HEAD and FALLUJAH, and comes out through Arson Theory, the new music company co-founded by the band's frontman Hernan "Eddie" Hermida.
The single lands with a Kickstarter attached. The Northern California extreme metal band want $75,000 to finish and release their first album since 2011's "This Is Where It Ends", and they are candid about why the gap ran so long.
"Fifteen years, FIFTEEN YEARS you have been waiting for new music," the band wrote on the campaign page. "Every single day on the internets, you let us know that just disappearing was unacceptable, you never let us forget that you were there, waiting… thanks for that, it kept us going through these seemingly endless years of lawsuits, fights, and setbacks."
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The budget is itemised down to the platform's cut: $30,000 to finish recording, $18,000 for videos, $8,250 for promotion, $7,000 held back for contingency, $5,000 for mastering and $6,750 in fees. The band say they currently have no record label and no manager, and are making the record independently. A second new song is promised if the goal is hit.
The timing is not accidental. ALL SHALL PERISH have just started "The Price Of Existence 20 Year Anniversary" tour, which opened on September 4 in Fresno and runs to October 3 in San Jose, marking two decades since the 2006 Nuclear Blast album that put them on the map. That record was the first to feature Hermida and lead guitarist Chris Storey, and it remains the reason a deathcore band who have not released anything in a decade and a half can still fill rooms.
The touring lineup is Hermida, Storey and Ben Orum on guitars, Adrian Oropeza on bass and Andrew Baird on drums.
Getting here took some untangling. Hermida was fired in 2013 after joining SUICIDE SILENCE as the replacement for the late Mitch Lucker — then-bassist Mike Tiner told Metal Injection at the time that the band had no choice. In October 2015 the group announced that Hermida and Storey were back, alongside founding members Matthew Kuykendall, Caysen Russo and Orum, with original vocalist Craig Betit involved in some capacity. Tiner declined a personal invitation to return.
Eleven years on from that reunion announcement, there is finally a song to show for it.