Last month, Season of Mist announced the signing of MENACE, the brainchild of NAPALM DEATH axeman Mitch Harris. MENACE’s debut album is entitled Impact Velocity and will hit the stores on March 14th (March 18th in North America). Impact Velocity features contributions from Derek Roddy (drums), Fred Leclercq (bass), Nicola Manzan (violin, cello, viola), Shane Embury (bass), and Russ Russell (producer and navigator of paradoxology).
MENACE is a project for those who dare to be challenged. It is a journey across genres; neither claiming nor conforming to any particular known style, and a result of all musical history and culture.
Mitch comments: “The band is called MENACE, but to me, it is more than just a band or a solo project. It is the result of my life’s work. It’s a concept that has been in production for some time with most of the songs and intense work done in the last two years. The initial idea for MENACE began with a plan to work with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY) and drummer Brann Dailor (MASTODON). Although Brann recorded two songs initially, his responsibilities with MASTODON didn’t allow time for such an intricate collaboration. In fact, we all became incredibly busy and as a result, new directives evolved, and to achieve my goal for MENACE I needed to see the album through myself.
“To me, MENACE is the old meeting the new; heavy and melodic, descriptive and adventurous, epic and futuristic, carnal and primitive, and so on. MENACE brings unrealized dreams closer to fruition. It is about overcoming loss and hardship, and a combination of many interests, including spiritual philosophy, psychology, science, physics, theatrics, the supernatural, the paranormal, film, poetry, photography, art, sculpture and video; the things I’ve focused all my energy on over the last twenty years. It’s an organic meets technological approach to exploration and self discovery through a direction I term audio-installationism (A.I.).”
Harris concludes, “Those familiar with my previous work will be in for a surprise and should expect the unexpected, but I’m a firm believer that even the most improbable dreams should be explored. MENACE is a statement in itself, a way of saying that there is always a way forward, no matter how difficult it seems. If you are still alive, then there is still something to achieve.”