New Metal Music By Tank Genghis Tron has re-emerged back into the scene as they have announced a return to the studio to record their next album. This four-piece experimental metal band has been hiatus for quite a long time now. The last time we really heard from them was when they released their last fulllength album, Board Up The House back in 2008. After two years of touring behind the album, they kind of disappeared. Now the band is back and ready for action with a new lineup of members. Former lead vocalist Mookie Singerman has left the group and the founding members Hamilton Jordan (guitar, bass, drum programming) and Michael Sochynsky (keyboards, drum programming) will be joined by new vocalist Tony Wolski and Nick Yacyshun from the band Sumac/Baptists. Fans of the band have been waiting for news like this for a long time. The new album will be the band’s third full-length album. Previous albums included Dead Mountain Mouth in 2006 and Board Up The House in 2008. Genghis Tron has already entered GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts with producer Kurt Ballou. The band is really excited with the prospects of recording a new album. As Michael Sochynsky tells us, “We said it was just a hiatus and we meant it! It’s been incredible writing music again and hearing everything come together in the studio. This is the album we’ve always wanted to write. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on.” Kicking things off, Genghis Tron have reissued their first two full-length albums Board Up The House and Dead Mountain Mouth on vinyl for the first time in over 10 years. Genghis Tron was formed in Poughkeepsie, New York and latter moved to Brooklyn, New York before continuing on to San Francisco, California. Hamilton Jordan and Michael Sochynsky met in college and quickly got together to create a style of music that they thought was lacking at the time. Their combination of metal, grind, and electronic music definitely set them apart from the rest of the pack. Both of the guys would spend their time doing the entire drum programming before adding layers and layers of guitars and synthesizers to the mix. “I was 19 when we started writing Dead Mountain Mouth with Kurt Ballou, who songs,” Jordan, now 36, recalls. “Michael also has returned to produce their new was 20. The first thing we tried to do was comeback album. “We developed the idea of cram together all our influences—shredding writing records that worked on multiple guitars and blastbeats, and then out of levels,” Sochynsky explains. “We wanted to nowhere comes this really pleasant sounding make a brutal, heavy record—something you Boards Of Canada or Autechre moment. It could really lose your shit to—but we also seemed like a great idea at the time.” wanted to make a record that was incredibly Their first release was the 2005 EP, layered and detailed at the same time. Cloak of Love. It was produced by überSomething you could listen to on headphones guitarist Colin Marston of Krallice and and hear stuff you didn’t notice the first Behold … The Arctopus. The sound was couple of times.” definitely all their own as they blended This was followed by non-stop touring together electronica, grind, and a number of with bands such as Arctopus, Converge, other genres together to create something Kylesa, Gaza, The Faint, Baroness, and even completely unheard of. Canada’s Exclaim! The Dillinger Escape Plan. They were said, “Adored or reviled, Genghis Tron are definitely getting known on the touring now nearing the head of the line in pushing circuit. the extreme music envelope.” Their follow up album, Board Up The The band made their album debut, 80 Rock and Blues International • September 2020
GENGHIS TRON RETURN FROM HIATUS & ENTER STUDIO; NEW ALBUM COMING 2021 House followed in 2008 and featured Dillinger Escape Plan lead singer, Greg Puciato. In some ways it was groundbreaking. Reviews of praise for the album started coming in. The New York Times named it as a “Critic’s Choice.” The magazine Rock Sound called it their “Album Of The Year.” They were even requested by the booking agents for Coachella to perform there in 2009, which made them one of the hit sets of the desert festival. Then the following year, the band went on an extended hiatus. Now the band is back and we can only guess what’s in store for them. Could this be a return to their earlier sound? Could this be something completely different? We won’t know till next year. One thing is for sure…. Producer Kurt Ballou is back, so something good is definitely going to happen!
