Teesside’s incendiary hardcore noise-makers Benefits have released another taste of their eagerly-awaited debut album.
Nails is due out on 21 April on Invada Records (home to Billy Nomates and BEAK> among others), and a video for new single What More Do You Want has today been released as the latest teaser.
The track follows the release of the album’s lead single Warhorse, a pummelling yet danceable track described by frontman Kingsley Hall as “an iron fist in a velvet glove”.
Warhorse ignited the fuse for the album’s release in late February, earning plaudits from the band’s fanbase, as well as landing a daytime playlisting from BBC Radio 6 Music, and attracting an avalanche of press coverage.
What More Do You Want is inspired by the band’s live improvisations, with Hall recording the vocals without any accompaniment or backing as a performance poem before sending it to the band to perform over, with the only instruction being that it needed to build in intensity.
The result is a tense and powerful track which builds into a crushing cacophony of noise around Hall’s lyrics about toxic patriotism.
The single is accompanied by a video which sees the band in a derelict building among union jack flags, British party foods, and celebratory decorations, which they destroy as the track develops.
Hall said: “It’s about the corruption of power and the nagging possibility that things weren’t necessarily better in the old days, despite what everyone says, and how harking back to them may not bring you the glory you desire.
“It’s one of the noisiest songs we’ve ever constructed, completely designed with a brutal sonic impact in mind. Dale’s drums clang and clatter in a really beautiful way, they’re harsh and heavy but there’s a melody to them.
“Hugh and Robbie hurl giant slabs of noise into the mix and it all builds to be a monster. Despite the chaos, this is probably Benefits in our purest, noisiest form.”
Benefits begin a headline UK tour to promote Nails on 21 April, followed by a run of UK and EU festival dates.
