{"id":9816,"date":"2019-12-07T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=9816"},"modified":"2019-12-02T18:01:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T18:01:05","slug":"prong-age-of-defiance-ep-steamhammer-spv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=9816","title":{"rendered":"Prong \u2013 \u2018Age of Defiance\u2019 EP (Steamhammer\/SPV)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I guess this 5 tracker EP released as a stop gap between albums should really be in Dom\u2019s monthly singles round up, but this 12\u201d and CD release is by Prong brothers and sisters, so you\u2019ll forgive me if I indulge you further.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say that since the revitalised band signed for SPV back at the start of this decade they have been in a rich vein of form and haven\u2019t really put a motorcycle booted foot wrong. Even \u2018Songs From The Black Hole\u2019 their 2015 album of cover versions was a \u201cmust buy\u201d simply because as Prong do\u2026they made that oh so well worn format (are you listening Cleopatra Records) all their own\u2026and by God it worked.<\/p>\n

Even with things are not going exactly to plan (like their website recently getting hijacked by an ex-manager for example) it\u2019s the strength of character and conviction that Prong main man Tommy Victor has in his band and its music that keeps driving the band forwards, and whilst their albums are now largely devoid of the short sharp punk rock blasts the band first started out playing, that all important punk rock heart is still very much beating under that post-apocalyptic industrial metal exterior that now pervades all, meaning it\u2019s still just as easy for the band to slot onto bills alongside the likes of Agnostic Front and Hatebreed as it is any out and out metal bill.<\/p>\n

Consisting of two new studio tracks and three live tracks \u2018Age of Defiance\u2019 sees Victor welcoming drummer Aaron Rossi back to the fold (alongside long-time bassist Jason Christopher) whilst once again co-producing the release alongside Chris Collier who has worked with the band since 2014\u2019s immense \u2018Ruining Lives\u2019 album.<\/p>\n

Having digitally released the chugging thrasher \u2018End of Sanity\u2019 back at the end of October (which kind of made me think what Jaz Coleman might sound like fronting early Exodus) I was wondering if this release might mark the return of Prong to their earlier crossover days, but a few bars into \u2018Age of Defiance\u2019 it\u2019s clear that Victor isn\u2019t going to be breaking with the winning formula he\u2019s developed over the past three studio records. Underpinning the huge slabs of guitar set to stun with pulsating rhythms that the melodies deep into your brain, this is the sound of Prong in 2019 and it sounds absolutely marvellous.<\/p>\n

Moving onto the live tracks then and this trio were all recorded in Berlin back in 2015 revisiting tracks from the band\u2019s initial mid 90s surge into the mainstream with \u2018Rude Awaking\u2019, along with \u2018Cleansing\u2019 duo \u2018Another World Device\u2019 and \u2018Cut Rate\u2019 showcasing why Prong always was and always will be a band out of time.<\/p>\n

Like Victor himself states\u201d Prong isn\u2019t something he does for fame or glory\u201d, it\u2019s something I have to agree with the man on when he also states \u201cit\u2019s something spiritual, and a God given gift\u201d. Why does he think this? Well check out \u2018Age of Defiance\u2019 and you\u2019ll soon understand.<\/p>\n

Once again this is truly amazing stuff from a truly amazing band.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

Buy ‘Age Of Defiance’\u00a0Here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess this 5 tracker EP released as a stop gap between albums should really be in Dom\u2019s monthly singles round up, but this 12\u201d and CD release is by Prong brothers and sisters, so you\u2019ll forgive me if I indulge you further. It\u2019s safe to say that since the revitalised band signed for SPV […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[4131,4133,4132],"class_list":["post-9816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-prong","tag-spv","tag-steamhammer","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9818,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions\/9818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}