For the Delaware-born quintet Year Of The Knife, the process of channelling frustration, aggression and dissatisfaction into musical form is so much more than simple liberation. Their debut "Internal Incarceration" is a profound response to the very real losses and challenges of the world around them, and a way to turn that dissatisfaction into community, compassion and change. "Internal Incarceration" confronts this darkness directly and redirects it into the music and lyrics. The album follows on from "Ultimate Aggression" from 2019 (a compilation of the band's previous EPs) and increases the level of commitment into sheer heaviness and sharpness. Year Of The Knife worked with producer Kurt Ballou (Converge, Nails, Code Orange) in Salem, the legendary GodCity Studio, where he encouraged the band to push their sound without sacrificing the essential wildness of their songs. The resulting thirteen tracks last a mere 31 minutes and are Year Of The Knife in its most haunting form. The fast parts are even more explosive, the breakdowns even more powerful, the guttural vocals cut through the controlled chaos and sound energized and tormented at the same time. But "Internal Incarceration" is much more than unbridled rage. Songs like "Through The Eyes" and "Sick Statistic" are deeply compassionate glances at the opioid crisis in America and reject judgements in favor of empathy.
