While You Were Away: New Music From OU and St. Vincent, Plus Metalocalypse Movie Comes To Streaming, And More
Still recovering from the holiday? Take it easy and catch up with the latest music news with the new edition of While You Were Away. This week: new music from Sum 41, OU, and St. Vincent, the Metalocalypse movie hits streaming, tours on sale, and more.
OU team up with Devin Townsend on new single ‘淨化 Purge’
Chinese progressive metal band OU have shared their new single “淨化 Purge” featuring Devin Townsend from their upcoming album 蘇醒 II: Frailty.
Speaking about the song, the band says: “淨化 Purge’ is the second track off our second album, 蘇醒 II: Frailty, the song was written as a kind of brutal meditation, for added power we asked Devin if he would be willing to sing his first song in Chinese along with Lynn, thankfully he was down, and the result is quite astonishing.”
Townsend also spoke about teaming up with the band saying: ”As I age, I find myself growing easily bored with new music, which is disappointing as a music fan. Despite being very busy, mutual circumstances aligned myself and the band ‘OU’. I appreciate this connection, as their music is exceptionally well executed and interesting to me. I am pleased to have been involved with something refreshing like this.”
Listen to the song below.
蘇醒 II: Frailty drops April 26th via InsideOutMusic.
‘Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar’ coming to MAX this week
Dethklok’s highly anticipated movie, Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar is finally hitting streaming services this week. The animated movie will debut on Max on April 6th, right after airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of programming.
The movie follows frontman Nathan Explosion as he “finds himself traumatized in a BRUTAL professional and romantic flat-spin all while he is tasked with fulfilling the prophecy and confronting the ultimate songwriting challenge: write the SONG OF SALVATION and save the planet.”
Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small shared the news on X writing, “BREAKING: METALOCALYPSE: ARMY OF THE DOOMSTAR will air midnight April 5th [12:00 AM ET/PT April 6th] on @adultswim then it drops on April 6th on MAX @StreamOnMax. April 7th DETHKLOK hits the road on the MUTILATION ON A SPRING NIGHT TOUR! (Pass it along).”
See his announcement below.
BREAKING: METALOCALYPSE: ARMY OF THE DOOMSTAR will air midnight April 5th on @adultswim then it drops on April 6th on MAX @StreamOnMax
April 7th DETHKLOK hits the road on the MUTILATION ON A SPRING NIGHT TOUR! (Pass it along) #itwillbebrutal pic.twitter.com/NNXI6xOZxn— Brendon Small (@brendonsmall) March 21, 2024
Sum 41 share new single ‘Dopamine’
Sum 41 have released their final album Heaven :x: Hell, a double LP featuring a pop-punk disc and a heavy metal disc. They also shared the video for their latest single “Dopamine.”
The clip, directed by Ravi Dhar, shows the band performing in Las Vegas alongside showgirls and an Elvis Presely impersonator. Watch the video below.
“I love Sum 41, what we’ve achieved, endured, and stuck together through, which is why I want to call it quits,” vocalist Deryck Whibley said in a statement. “There were so many times we could’ve broken up. For some reason, we kept sticking it out. I’m proud of that. It’s the right time to walk away from it.”
He continued, “I’m putting all of my energy into what’s ahead. This is going to be the biggest tour of our lives, and I want to make it the best show we’ve ever done. That’s it.”
Hear St. Vincent’s new single ‘Flea’
St. Vincent has shared her new single “Flea,” taken from her upcoming album All Born Screaming out on April 26th.
Featuring Dave Grohl on drums and Justin Meldal-Johnson on bass, the song follows previously released single “Broken Man.” In addition to Grohl, St. Vincent also recruited Cate Le Bon, Josh Freese, Rachel Eckroth, Mark Guiliana, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Stella Mogzawa, and David Ralicke to contribute to the new LP.
St. Vincent also announced a 2024 North American tour in support of the new album. See the full iteneray here.
Listen to the song below. Pre-order All Born Screaming here.
Tours on sale this week
PUP and Gob are joining Sum 41 on the Canadian leg on their 2024 – 2025 farewell tour. The trek starts on January 10th, 2025 in Victoria, BC and wraps up with two prevously announced Toronto shows on January 28th and 30th. See all the dates here.
Sleeping With Sirens will celebrate their breakout second album Let’s Cheers To This with a U.S. anniversary tour this fall. The tour kicks off September 21st in Minneapolia, Minnesota and ends with their performance at When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas. Tickets on sale now.
Cake have added new shows to their previously announced 2024 tour. In July, the band will play shows in Costa Mesa and Paso Robles, California. Then, in August, they’ll play a one-off concert at Wolftrap in Vienna, Virginia. Finally, in September, the band will hit up Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. See all their dates here.
Wu-Tang Clan have added two shows to their Las Vegas residency. The group will take over the Theater at Virgin Hotels on September 27th and 28th. Find all the details here.
