For almost two decades, Genghis Tron bandleaders Michael Sochynsky and Hamilton Jordan have gazed into the future and imagined what the world would look like after the extinction of our species— an outcome that has long troubled but also inspired them to steer the pioneering outfit in breaking new ground with each successive release, from the triumphant and genre-smashing electro-grind of 2008’s Board Up the House to the lush, pummeling hypnosis of 2021’s Dream Weapon.
Now, with their fourth full-length album Signal Fire (out on June 12), co-produced and mixed by Seth Manchester (Model/Actriz, Battles, Big Brave), Genghis Tron awaken us from the post-apocalyptic daydreams of their previous work with a violent— and most welcome —shove. This time, the distant-future reveries we first heard on Board Up The House give way to an unsettling awareness of the present we’re actually living, as our circumstances grow too pressing to try and escape.
“’Signal Fire’ envisions a Kojima-esque dystopia of endless proxy warfare,” says vocalist and lyricist Tony Wolski (The Armed), “where the deluge of available information has outmoded the human ability to parse it. A world where those amoral, shameless and cunning enough can literally reshape the reality at their whim through sheer insistence. Honestly, this is probably about, like, late 2027…”
Roaring onto the scene in 2004 with a uniquely demented blend of extreme metal, synthesizer textures, and drum-machine madness, Genghis Tron are no strangers to making a forceful impression. But Signal Fire marks the first time the band– joined again by Wolski and Nick Yacyshyn (SUMAC) on drums, plus newcomer Kenny Szymanski (The Armed) on bass– has captured this level of urgency with such visceral precision. “This album is very much rooted in the now,” confirms Jordan.
First single and album opener “I Am All” sets the table with a chest-throbbing synth pulse as Wolski declares “I’m on a tear, I’m on a tear,” over swirling industrial rhythms and creeping synthlines. Even as the gaping maw of Wax Trax!-inspired buzzsaw guitars breaks the surface and threatens to swallow the other instruments whole— and as Wolski switches from hypnotic melodies to agonized screams — the music speaks to the sway in your hips, to the allure of possibility and a taste of danger in the air. If Genghis Tron are calling us to dance until the decay of civilization, “I Am All” establishes that it’s gonna be one hell of a time.
Twenty years into their career, having proven their ability to forge common ground between Ministry and Aphex Twin, between Brutal Truth and Boards Of Canada, between Cluster and Converge, ugly-beautiful new genre hybrids from Genghis Tron no longer come as a surprise. What’s remarkable, however, is how Sochynsky and Jordan have taken a project that started in 2004 as a dorm-room genre-pastiche experiment —”a chaotic, wild amalgamation of all our favorite stuff, literally slammed together,” says Jordan—and refined their songwriting craft to deliver a sound that is unmistakably their own. Sochynsky and Jordan acknowledge that their approach to songwriting is, at its core, the same it has always been: trading ideas, whether on synths, programmed beats, or guitars. The crucial difference is that Genghis Tron now sounds like, well, an actual band.
“That transformation would not have been possible,” Jordan insists, “without Tony, Nick, and Kenny.” Sochynsky agrees: “They’re amazing musicians and they all have killer songwriting instincts, which helps push everything to the next level.” Through their contributions to 2021’s Dream Weapon, Wolski and Yacyshyn— who joined the band in 2020, replacing former vocalist Mookie Singerman and the band’s drum machine, respectively— had already proven themselves to be indispensable to the full realization of Genghis Tron’s vision.
Wolski brings grace and emotional charge to Genghis Tron’s music, “and his vocal melodies are transformative,” says Jordan. Meanwhile, Yacyshyn’s uncanny ability to thread live drums that groove and sway and drive their way through Sochynsky’s electronic sequences has become the band’s rhythmic trademark. “And now that Kenny has joined, there’s an entirely new dimension,” adds Sochynsky. “We originally asked him to help with a few songs, but it turned out so well that he just kept going. Kenny’s playing is one of my favorite aspects of the whole record.”
On Signal Fire, Genghis Tron has never sounded more unhinged, more alive, and more free to continue upending everyone’s expectations in service of making compelling music.
Pre-order Signal Fire here or direct from Relapse here and look for more information coming soon…
Signal Fire track list:
I Am All
Signal Fire
Future Worship
Like Fotocrom
Tomorrow Mirage
Nothing Blooms in the Hollow
Without Form
Born Prey
A Love So Pure
New Gods
