COPE Announce Debut Album
‘The Shock Doctrine’
Set for release 22 May 2020
New single ‘Life in 3D’ released
COPE’s debut album ‘The Shock Doctrine’ will be self-released by the band on 22 May. The London-based hardcore band have also revealed a new single ‘Life in 3D’ which is out now on all streaming services. In a whirlwind of riffage and with a powerful vocal delivery from frontman Tom Walker, the track serves as a vital introduction to COPE’s ‘The Shock Doctrine’.
“The inspiration for this track actually goes way back to 2012, when this Texan dude made the first 3D printed gun and put the blueprints online,” explains guitarist Josh Bowles. “Since then, he’s been convicted of child sex offences and is no longer a key player in the movement (stand up guy, right?) but the damage has been done. These blueprints have already been downloaded thousands of times by f*** knows who, so it’s only a matter of time before that leads to a tragedy. I am all too aware of the US’s gun culture, and if this isn’t worth screaming about and drawing attention to, I don’t know what is.”
“There are forces out there that want to see you suffer,” continues Bowles, when speaking of the motivations behind the album as a whole. “When you are too tired, exhausted, miserable or apathetic to stand up for your rights, they will take them from you. That is the shock doctrine.”
COPE’s music draws inspiration from the crumbling state of the modern world and how we can get by in the face of that adversity. Their impassioned approach, which draws from metal and punk, as well as hardcore, has resulted in a collection of undeniably heavy compositions, both in theme and in aural aesthetic. With their debut full-length, COPE take aim at the systems all around us designed to wear us down and grind us into submission.
The album was recorded by Luke Yates in various locations with some of the guitars, bass & vocals completed in (guitarist) Jay’s house in Reading. It was mastered by Lewis Johns at The Ranch Production House.
Going further into what fuels their music, Bowles continues “People spend too much of their lives tuning out the injustices in the world. They pick up their phones, their laptops, their TV remotes and tune into alternative realities so they don’t have to deal with it all. Escapism is OK; we all seek it sometimes. But there are problems in the world that desperately need fixing. These problems will always be our inspiration, and I hope the bigger breakdowns, thrashier riffs and faster tempos on this debut album help to convey the urgency of the situation we find ourselves in today.”
UK TOUR DATES:
12 March – The Fighting Cocks, Kingston
20 March – The Black Heart, London
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