Brutal Metallic Sludge Outfit MASTIFF Release Second Single ‘Void’

Comments guitarist James Lee:

“'Void' might not fall in the literal middle of Deprecipice, but in many ways it acts as a thematic centrepiece, both musically and lyrically. There’s a strong Converge influence in the guitars for sure, and we wanted it to have a ragged, almost punk sound that gradually evolves into this monstrous, lurching breakdown. Dan and Joe (Clayton, producer) then worked on washing the song over with some nasty, unsettling electronic noise that gives it this really queasy vibe.

"For a good while we had the music finished but hadn’t landed on a lyric, but then in the few weeks between the initial album tracking and Jim’s vocal session my mother passed away after a short but brutal battle with lung cancer, and this song ended up becoming the outlet for all of the pain and grief I had spilling out of me. To suddenly not have that safety net of the person who created you, for them to just be gone with nothing to take their place, it really did feel like a void opened in my chest, and this song was my humble attempt to put that feeling into words.”

Everything Mastiff does is in the name of intensity. Since forming amid the misery of Kingston-upon-Hull in 2013, the five-piece have crashed extreme metal, sludge and hardcore together to create the most brutal sonic onslaughts possible, all in the name of keeping their music fresh, raw and seething.

Signing to MNRK Heavy three years ago, Mastiff’s commitment to blunt-force aggression remains untempered. Their 2021 album, Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth, was described by Blabbermouth’s Dom Lawson as a “horrifying slab of disgust” and “a sustained scream in the face of uncontrollable madness”. Now comes its long-anticipated follow-up: Deprecipice – an album that, somehow, smacks even harder than anything this band have unchained before, produced by longtime collaborator Joe Clayton (Wallowing, Ithaca, Tuskar) at Manchester’s No Studio. The beguiling artwork that runs throughout the album is by Paul Phillips at the award winning True Spilt Milk Designs, another long time collaborator with the band. 

“We’ve gone quite a lot towards a hardcore sound,” says Hodge. “Where the last one was more death metal, this one’s a lot more staccato: a lot more defined, riff-wise.”

Unlike so many of their extreme metal peers right now, though, Mastiff didn’t source this rejuvenated savagery from the anxieties and frustrations of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the lockdowns ended and real life started to resume in 2021 and 2022, Hodge and Lee noticed the spirits of the world around them lifting. Feelings of trauma and isolation were beginning to enter people’s rear-view mirrors – and it was an overcoming that the duo couldn’t relate to. Lee was mourning the loss of his mother, while Hodge realised he was still grieving over the death of his five-day-old son, Isaac, in 2010.

“The album’s called Deprecipice, and that pretty much sums up where me and James were when we wrote it,” says the singer. “We were both standing back on the edge of a depressive void.You have to keep that primal feeling,” Hodge continues. “I think, if you take too much time, you start to second-guess yourself. We try to be as true to ourselves as we can.”

With Deprecipice, Mastiff have made a magnum opus that bleeds with genuine pain. As earnest as it is ferocious, it’s already an album of the year candidate for a year that’s only just beginning.

Mastiff hit the road in March touring the UK, including London’s legendary The Black Heart with North East extreme metal outfit Yersin. Pick up tickets here. 

Tour dates: 

Mar 22: Hull, Polar Bear
Mar 23: Glasgow, Audio
Mar 24: Edinburgh, Bannermans
Mar 27: London, The Black Heart
Mar 28: Brighton, Green Door Store
Mar 29: Bristol, Crofters Rights
Mar 30: Birmingham, Devils Dog
Mar 31: Nottingham, Rough Trade