Exclusive: Listen To A Stream Of Bloody Knives’ I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This

By Less Lee Moore

I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This, the latest release from Austin, TX’s brilliantly and appropriately named Bloody Knives, will be released on April 15 from Saint Marie Records. But you don’t have to wait until then to hear it, because here at Popshifter, we’ve got an exclusive album stream just for you.

And if that weren’t enough, we’ve also got track-by-track notes on the album from the band.

“We took more time on this record than on anything we have done before, some of the songs being a year or two old before we finished them. During the time writing the record we lost two band members and added three more, so integrating the new people into the band helped the sound evolve and morph into a new version of ourselves. Many of the aspects of our live sound are more prevalent on this, with the electronic elements more subdued. I enjoyed keeping people in the dark about the song while recording, doing things out of order, recording improvisations and creating the record that way. So much of what you hear on the finished album is what the musician played as it was being created. It was the editing process where we got specific, not so much with correction but with elaboration and emphasis on the sounds. The record is so chaotic, mixing it was a long process of making all of the sounds fit in the same space while retaining their individuality.”

“Cystic”

This song was the last song written for the record and also the introductory track, the melodies and lyrics encapsulate the overall mood and general theme of the album. Ritch’s melody at the end was done on an OP-1 synth that Gary Numan signed, improvised while just hearing that section of the song for the first time. In the video the protagonist slowly morphs into a demon which reflects the lyrical theme of a person discovering the evil inside of them and giving into it, the process killing off any chance at redemption. The title is a medical term used to describe both a tumor-like sac containing fluid in humans as well as the protective capsule that protects a larvae during its resting period. The blooming of evil, the manifestation of disease.

“Blood Turns Cold”

A live favorite for a long time, especially the 1/2 time outro, which fuses a hip hop groove with spacey metal keys. Jake came up with the ambiance for this song by sampling a noise section from our old metal band that Jack played on bass on. The song is about a person killing themselves and also a person being held with a gun to their head, and is a comparison of both scenarios.

“Reflection Lies”

The best lies are the ones we tell ourselves, and this song explores that theme and a person’s inherent complicity in this, with the end result being the separation of one’s mind from body, thoughts from actions. There is more of Ritch’s OP-1 magic on this track; Jack’s guitar in the chorus sounds like a battle horn. This is the most shoegazey song on the record and the end part was built up to be a large wash of atmosphere and brutality at the end.

“Black Hole”

This song was intended to be used for a split and was then shelved off for a long time, but ended up on the record for continuity purposes. This was our take on Drum n’ Bass proper as a genre, the idea being that we shift through different types of drum and bass music at the end, with the more lean keyboard heavy parts at the beginning, followed by much noisier keys and statics, then followed with an ambient dnb style outro. The song is about suicide and the person watching themselves do it.

“Static”

Jack’s guitar part is my favorite part of this song. When he was recording it I remember when he got it and kept playing it a few times until I suddenly stopped him. He didn’t even remember the part until he heard the song much later; in my mind that lead part makes the verse. The guitar playing from The Sound shows its influence here. The ambiance at the beginning is a guitar track reversed with a ton of delay and reverb. The lyrics detail the loss of self and the loss of relationships that follows that, and being unable to alter the path regardless of intention.

“No Words”

Our old sound manipulator Jim Moon is especially prevalent on this track. Everyone recorded their part without hearing the other parts aside from the bass and drums, then Jim came back after the fact and resampled all of their parts. As the song goes along the original noises turn into their affected counterparts and serves as a bridge between the the earlier parts of the record and the two darkest songs that follow it, and also reinforces the theme of change and metamorphosis.

“Poison Halo”

Over the past year I had a reawakening with Goth music, primarily the first wave of goth bands. Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy, and Clan of Xymox were all big influences on the record as a whole and this song in particular highlights that. It’s is as close to deathrock as I think we will ever come. Martin’s synths on this one bring an essential ambiance and depth to the song. The lyrics describe the demeanor of true evil. The title “Poison Halo refers” to both a metaphorical halo, such as what an angel of evil would wear, and the literal Poison Halo left on the skin around a bite or injection of poison.

“Buried Alive”

The title of this song was inspired by a scene in a movie called The Serpent and the Rainbow in which the protagonist is buried alive. The lyrics detail a person’s descent into nothingness, and the destructive desire to make a horrible situation even worse at any cost. Much in the way “Cystic” starts off with the manifestation of disease, “Buried Alive” ends with the larvae forming and changing into something new and horrible. The end of this song is our nod to our noise band side and a fitting way to end the record; chaotic desperation,the sound of being trapped in hell.

The album will be available in CD and digital formats, as well as vinyl in black, ox blood, and electric blue. The vinyl release is limited to 500, with high quality vinyl sleeves and printed inner sleeves with download card.

Tour Dates:
Tue April 12th :Minneapolis @Hexagon with TRITA
Wed April 13th: Chicago @ Empty Bottle w New Canyons
Thur April 14th: Milwaukee @ Quarters
Friday April 15th: Champaign IL @ Mike and Molly’s w/TBA
Sat April 16th: St. Louis TBA
Friday April 22nd: Norman Music Fest w/Power Trip