Photo by Anne DePena
With their approaching 40th(!) anniversary, SoCal thrash legends Hirax, led by iconic vocalist Katon W. DePena, are set to release their sixth full-length studio album, Faster Than Death. So we’re thrilled to be premiering the influential outfit’s latest single from said album, “Worlds End.” The closing track on the new long-player, “Worlds End” is an old-school ripper full of classic Exodus rage and Show No Mercy-style riffage, a true throwback in the best possible way. It was even partially recorded by Metal Blade’s go-to producer from the ’80s, Bill Metoyer.
Faster Than Death is set for release on vinyl, CD and digitally on February 28 via Armageddon Label. Place your preorder here or here.
Here’s what Katon had to say about the track:
“I wrote the lyrics in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. We had curfews where we had to stay indoors. There was so much paranoia and confusion. Things like going to the grocery store were bizarre because people were fighting over bottled water and toilet paper! In fact, it was very hard to get the typical essentials, and the streets/roads were empty. It was very eerie and it felt like we were living in apocalyptic times. People were dying and the homeless population exploded. The opening line of the first verse says it all: ‘Panic and chaos, the world is going to hell!’ To sum it all up, it is a dark tail of a twisted time. ‘Worlds End,’ survive or die!”
