June 6, 2012 - Ohio rockers WOLVES AT THE GATE are gearing up for the release of their anticipated debut full-length, Captors, set to drop July 3rd from Solid State Records. Today the band is whetting the appetites of fans with a taste of the album in the form of standout track “Dead Man.”
The track is a blistering introduction to what WATG has in store on Captors - a fusion of hard rock melody and post-hardcore heaviness whose raw, emotional power is matched in intensity only by the band’s earnest approach to songwriting.
Listen to ‘Dead Man’:
"We chose ‘Dead Man’ as our first single because of how well it encompasses the entity of our band," explains guitarist/vocalist Stephen Cobucci. "As a song it has sort of a youthful energy about it that we really enjoy playing and a really solid melody that we feel will draw in new fans and appease long time fans."
"Writing this song quite easily took longer than anything else on the album. I heard in my head how I wanted the song to sound, but it took about a month’s worth of work to get everything to the point where it flowed musically and lyrically. I record all of our preproduction on my computer and there’s a folder I like to call the ‘riff graveyard’ which contains all the riffs I wrote for the record that never made it… ‘Dead Man’ easily had the largest riff graveyard of any song on the record."
The follow-up to their touted 2011 EP We Are the Ones, Captors finds the band not only living up to but surpassing the huge potential recognized by critics and fans alike. No longer constrained by the limits of an EP, the members of WOLVES AT THE GATE were able to showcase the explosive growth of their songwriting, from luscious, melodic rock tracks to lip-splitting hardcore stomps.
Produced by Andreas Magnussen (OH, SLEEPER, HASTE THE DAY, etc), Captors is a blisteringly heavy full-length debut with the potential to appeal to every variety of rocker – from fans of metalcore to traditional metal to mainstream hard rock. It’s an album that – like those of some of the band’s influences (AS CITIES BURN, THRICE, FOO FIGHTERS, UNDER0ATH) – avoids pigeonholes and easy labels.
Formed in 2008, WATG began turning heads almost immediately and it wasn’t long before they were touring with bands they had grown up listening to on their iPods, recording with producers whose work they appreciated and signing with a label – Solid State Records – they had long respected. With the November 2011 release of We Are The Ones, the band wedged their way into a crowded heavy music scene. Now, with Captors, the band is kicking down the door and taking no prisoners.
