The band’s last full-length studio album came out in 2022
Crobot are back with a brand new single, “Come Down.” It is the lead single from the upcoming fifth studio album, Obsidian. The record is due out on September 13 through the band’s new label, Megaforce Records. The song “Come Down” sees guitarist Chris Bishop channeling his inner Tony Iommi with brooding, jackhammer riffs and frontman Brandon Yeagley yet another soaring vocal performance. Stream the official audio visualizer below.
Produced by Crobot, recorded at The Machine Shop Studios in Austin, TX, and engineered, mixed, and mastered by Alberto De Icaza, the 12 tracks on Obsidian dive into the deep, murky waters of the human condition, threading ancient myths with personal demons across its tracks.
The all-new “Come Down,” co-written and brought to the band by drummer Dan Ryan, and the track’s accompanying visualizer, which is populated by a spaceborne killer, ancient Celtic druids, the obsidian that vocalist Brandon Yeagley found in the woods, tracks of a white rabbit headed to a portal into the underworld, and more.
“As we started demoing songs,“ guitarist Chris Bishop explains, “the music was being pushed more and more into a heavier, darker, more metal direction. ‘Come Down’ is one of the heaviest songs that we’ve done, it’s much more in the world of Alice in Chains. Dan, our drummer, comes from that world, and we didn’t try to stifle that, so the new music is a lot heavier than our previous albums.”
“‘Obsidian,’ the title track, went through many different structures,” Bishop explains, “but it was never quite right. So, we put it on hold and hit up Howard Jones, who used to play in Killswitch Engage and is now in Light the Torch. We told him that we had the album’s title, Obsidian, but not the title track, sent him the tune, and he came back with some ideas that were perfect. So, we rolled with that; Brandon put his spin on Howard’s ideas, and we brought Howard into the circle of being in Crobot for that one song.”
While the band’s primary songwriters – Bishop and Yaegley – tend to leave their songs somewhat ambiguous, the upcoming album’s new tunes touch upon very personal growth, conflicts, and reflections. “Each song descends into the darker reaches of the psyche,” Bishop says, “set to a relentless rhythm of heavy, pulsing beats and gut-wrenching guitar solos, and offers a stark reflection of internal struggles.”
“‘Obsidian’ is almost a rebirth of our career,” Brandon adds. “We were able to take a different approach to the writing and recording of this album, so the experience was very rewarding and different from past projects. Conflicts and reflections make you a better person, even in those darker moments, but I know I became a better person for it. I think that’s what symbolizes this entire album for us. It’s been a real breath of fresh air.”
Last July, Crobot came out with a groovy cover of pop star Janet Jackson’s 1989 hit, “Black Cat.” In 2022, they released their last full-length studio LP, Feel This. Anchored by the lead single “Better Times,” the album also features prime Crobot cuts like “Dizzy,” “Golden,” and more. The band released Feel This and its predecessor Motherbrain (2019) through Mascot Label Group.
Crobot’s sophomore effort, 2016’s Welcome to Fat City, peaked at No. 16 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart.
