Employed to Serve have gone through many sonic iterations throughout their time as a band. Since forming nearly a decade ago, the U.K. group have bounced between grindcore, chaotic hardcore, slightly less spastic post-hardcore and now full-on, horns-in-the-air metalcore. The band have announced that their fourth album, Conquering, will arrive later this fall, and they're giving us a hint of their gigantic new sound with a decimating single called "Exist."
Here, Employed to Serve stack squealing thrash riffs, eye-popping solos and no-less-than-epic gang chants atop sturdy hardcore riffage. It takes the big-room metalcore of Killswitch Engage and crosses it with the burly energy of a dangerous hardcore show — and it fucking rules. Bang your head while you watch the accompanying music video above via YouTube.
"'Exist' is a song that celebrates the highs and lows of existing," frontwoman Justine Jones commented. "For this video, I really wanted to capture the excitement of being a pre-teen and discovering the absolute joy that is music. I loved the idea of getting into someone's head at that time and them daydreaming about being on stage with the band you love, like we did when we were that age and recently in the past year when we couldn't play shows."
"The most important aspect of the video for me was finding a young energetic girl to play the really stoked kid," she said of "Exist"'s visual. "When I was growing up, metal was a very male-dominated genre and I always felt a bit out of place. I feel that this is a different story now with so many women in bands. Working in the industry and in the crowd, it's becoming normalized, which is really exciting."
Conquering is due out September 17th via Spinefarm, and pre-orders are available now. See the artwork and track listing below.
Conquering track listing:
"Universal Chokehold"
"Exist"
"Twist The Blade"
"Sun Up To Sun Down"
"The Mistake"
"We Don't Need You"
"Set In Stone"
"Mark Of The Grave"
"World Ender"
"Conquering"
"Stand Alone"
