UNFD SIGN SAVANNAH METAL BREAKOUTS VATICAN + DOUBLE SINGLE 'BECOME A NEW GOD' OUT NOW FEATURING 'FRACTURED GOD' & 'ABSOLUTE REALITY'

Image: Errick Easterday

UNFD is pleased to welcome Savannah metal-outfit Vatican to the family as its latest signing, who join the likes of Silverstein, Stray From The Path, ERRA, Frank Iero, and more on the label’s roster.

After developing a name for themselves and garnering press praise from Revolver, Kerrang!, New Noise, and more with 2019’s full-length Sole Impulse, the five-piece are now storming out of the gates hard with their new double-single effort Become A New God.

Featuring singles ‘Absolute Reality’ and ‘Fractured God’, the latter of which premiered by SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal this week, the release finds Vatican tackling the complexity of the human experience and all its brokenness, uncertainties, strangeness, and need for constant self-reflection and improvement. Today’s release also comes alongside the reveal of a music video for ‘Fractured God’.

Vatican vocalist Mike Sugars offers some deep insight about each track here:

“‘Fractured God’ is about questioning who you are, and what makes up your individuality,” he explains. “Are we truly individuals, or are we products of ideals passed on from last generations? Do we have our own ideals or are we just vessels for those we inherited?”

Regarding ‘Absolute Reality’, he adds, “We talk about undeniable truths, and how hard they are to find. There’s a constant flow of information and disinformation in the world today, and it flows at an ever-increasing rate. How can we possibly take all of this and use it to create real context in a technological landscape where this information is disseminated out to users who just chew it up and repeat it?”

He finishes: “Become A New God, as a pairing of these songs, is trying to question what it is to be human in an increasingly complex world and time.”

While edging on sub-genres like djent and industrial, Vatican draw on influences like Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan, while also sitting tightly against new wave risers like Knocked Loose and fellow Southern heavyweights Kublai Khan.

Guitarist Tom Lovejoy shares how their ethos as individuals and as Vatican cuts through in Become A New God, saying:

“Part of what I think we all represent as people and a band is the idea of taking yourself to task when challenges come up, and figuring out the healthiest, most constructive way to deal with it. That’s why some of the lyrics are extremely blunt, and why the title of the record is, too; it’s not shrouded in metaphors. It’s just a quick way of saying, ‘Accept that maybe you’ve fucked some things up and it’s nobody’s responsibility but yours to fix that.'”

Become A New God is out now via UNFD.

VATICAN IS:
Mike Sugars (vocals)
Tom Lovejoy (guitar)
Nolan Mobley (guitar)
Josian Soto-Ramos (drums)
Jonathan Mackey (bass)