Byron Bay metal maestros From Crisis To Collapse have been strangely subdued of late.

Since decimating the senses of a generation of metal lovers with their album The Seventh Tree in 2019 the band has toured relentlessly on the back of that, but metal fans being the impatient and demanding people we are their loyal legion of fans were waiting - salivating even - for the release of the next chapter.

Well, ladies and metalheads, the wait is almost over, with FCTC announcing the impending arrival of their latest masterpiece Needlepoint. Although not yet having a release date, the mere promise of new madness has sparked interest throughout the metal community, with vocalist Angus Carter sitting down with HEAVY to set the record straight.

"It has been a little while, mate," he acknowledged. "I think we'd all sat around in hiatus a little bit once the whole climate of things shifted, just trying to figure out what was going to be the best plan of attack, like a lot of bands and musicians around, I reckon. That led to having a lot of shows called off, a lot of plans changed, so it was time to get in the studio and do some tracks."



One of the perks of the job is getting to ask for advance copies of new music, for research purposes of course, and as much as I appreciate bands obliging when one comes along as good as this you have to just sit back and thank the Metal Gods.



"The music video is definitely very fitting with some creepy stuff," Carter continued. "Like always, Ian brings something - as he does with most of the tracks - and Chad contributes his beautiful tones as well, Marco obviously does the drums and Unai on bass, so as always the composition of the music was left up to the musicians. I myself sit on the sidelines and watch them create. From the get go, it was always an intense song. We played around with the intro a bit, pulling it in and out of sets and stuff like that, but we kind of stuck with the way the song was first written and stayed true to that and here we are."

This time around, FCTC seem more aggressive and purposeful, as though they know now they truly belong, and with that realization comes a wealth of confidence that puts a huge stamp on Needlepoint. Even Carter, who already has an intense-as-fuck stage presence, has stepped things up vocally on this track, with the vocalist nodding in agreement at the mention.



"We definitely… there was a lot of, I guess, adversity and emotion in this song and some of the lyrics", he measured." "Maybe all of us in the band don't necessarily think or have to share the exact same opinion on things in life, but this subject was quite close to my heart. There was definitely some rage in there and trying to do some different things and get some intensity in the deliverance and more aggression."

In the full interview, Angus talks more about Needlepoint, runs us through some of the concepts for the video clip and fan expectation around the final product, the band's sound and where it comes from, potential new music, their upcoming tour plans and more.