PRONG have released "Fear The Sun", the latest single from their self-titled album, out November 6 on Napalm Records. It is the fastest, most direct thing they have put out from the record so far, and Tommy Victor is straightforward about where he was aiming.
"I think we went back into time on this song," he said. "It's a modernized version of the groove metal basics PRONG laid a foundation for back with 'Beg To Differ'." The lyric, he added, "reflects upon living with no seasonal changes, metaphorically."
Going back to 1990 is a specific choice. "Beg To Differ" and 1994's "Cleansing" are the records that made PRONG matter beyond the CBGB scene they came out of — a scene that also produced GORILLA BISCUITS, MADBALL, SICK OF IT ALL and BIOHAZARD, and in which PRONG were the ones fusing New York hardcore with industrial texture and grooves that could carry a chorus. A good deal of what later got called groove metal and crossover thrash traces back through those two albums.
The album's self-titling is deliberate, and Victor has explained it as a statement rather than a shrug. "This could be the best PRONG album to date. It's definitely the best-sounding PRONG album ever, with the incredible Andy Sneap mixing and mastering it!" he said. "This record represents a new lease on life for PRONG with a new label, a fresh attitude with faster and heavier songs, bigger hooks and top-notch sound quality. That's why it's self-titled; it's a redefining episode for PRONG!"
Eleven songs, recorded as a trio — Victor on guitar and vocals, Christopher Dean on bass, Tyler Joseph on drums — with Sneap mixing and mastering at Backstage Studios. The CD adds two bonus tracks, "Out Of Body" and a cover of BANANARAMA's "Cruel Summer", which is exactly the kind of choice PRONG have always been willing to make.
The Napalm partnership was announced in June 2025, on the back of a European headline tour marking 31 years of "Cleansing". Since then the band released the live album "Live And Uncleansed" in March via SPV/Steamhammer, recorded across seven nights in July and August 2025. Their last studio record, "State Of Emergency", came out in October 2023.
"Prong" track listing:
- The Banner
- New Commission
- The Uprising
- Uncertain Truth
- Fear The Sun
- Commonsense Resolution
- Doomed World
- Proportionate Response
- Transgression
- Simulated Drowning
- Our Continuance
- Out Of Body (bonus track)
- Cruel Summer (bonus track)