Plus, new 2022 US tour dates
black midi are ready to bring you to their post-punk netherworld with Hellfire, their third studio album. Before it’s out on July 15th via Rough Trade Records, the trio have shared the LP’s aptly-titled lead single “Welcome to Hell” today. Additionally, black midi have unveiled a list of 2022 tour dates in the US.
Hellfire, black midi’s follow-up to last year’s Cavalcade, is billed as a concept album of sorts that juggles “themes of pain, loss, and anguish.” While Cavalcade was more melodic and their 2019 debut Schlagenheim was brutal and grating, black midi find the balance on Hellfire, which the band wrote in isolation in London. As guitarist/lead vocalist Geordie Greep puts it in a press release: “If Cavalcade was a drama, Hellfire is like an epic action film… I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs.” Pre-orders for Hellfire are ongoing.
“Welcome to Hell” is epic, indeed. Many of the songs on Hellfire contain detailed stories told in the first person, and this one is no exception, with Greep assuming the role of a nihilistic, shell-shocked military soldier: “Bullets were made for men like you:
The impotent idiots god forgot,” he sneers in his instantly-recognizable voice.
With a mathy rhythm section and a searing breakdown, it’s a black midi track through-and-through. Watch the 2D- and 3D-animated music video for “Welcome to Hell,” directed by Gustaf Holtenäs, below.
After they wrap up their current leg in Europe, black midi will begin their US shows on July 21st at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club. The 25-date leg of the tour includes stops at New York’s Central Park, LA’s Wiltern, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, and more before concluding on October 15th in Louisville, Kentucky. Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 13th, and they’ll be available over at Ticketmaster.
After the jump, see black midi’s 2022 tour dates, as well as the tracklist and artwork for Hellfire.
Earlier this year, black midi shared the three-track Cavalcovers EP, on which they performed their own renditions of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man,” Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” and Captain Beefheart’s “Moonlight on Vermont.”
Hellfire Artwork:
Hellfire Tracklist:
01. Hellfire
02. Sugar/Tzu
03. Eat Men Eat
04. Welcome to Hell
05. Still
06. The Race is About to Begin
07. Dangerous Liaisons
08. The Defence
09. 27 Questions
black midi 2022 Tour Dates:
07/21 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
07/23 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
07/24 – New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/06 – Baltimore, MD @ Ram’s Head Live
09/07 – Richmond, VA @ The National
09/09 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
09/10 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
09/12 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
09/14 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
09/16 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
09/20 – Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress Plaza
09/22 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
09/23 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box
09/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre
09/27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield Theatre
09/28 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
09/29 – Reno, NV @ Cargo Concert Hall
10/03 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
10/04 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
10/07 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
10/08 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
10/09 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/12 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/14 – Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre
10/15 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
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