Author & Punisher — the man-machine project of musician and mechanical engineer Tristan Shone — have been signed by Pantera's Philip Anselmo to his Housecore label and handpicked by Tool to tour with them. The prog-metal titans' Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor are clearly diehard fans as the pair also make a guest-appearance on Author & Punisher's upcoming album, Krüller, due out on February 11th through Relapse Records. For those who are unfamiliar with the project, Shone makes much of Author & Punisher's industrial doom on handmade mechanical instruments, and for Krüller, he's upgraded his setup to fine effect — at least judging from lead single "Drone Carrying Dread." The gripping dirge artfully balances apocalyptic heaviness with ethereal melodic singing. Blast it above via its beautiful, retro-sci-fi music video, which was directed by Monte Legaspi and features illustrations from album cover artist Zlatko Mitev.
"'Drone Carrying Dread' was the first song I wrote on Krüller," Shone commented of the album, which was thematically inspired by Octavia E. Butler's Parable series. "I had just gotten home from the final tour of the Beastland album cycle and I spent a couple weeks updating my overall tones with a nice balance of sub, saw/synth and tube amp. This track was basically the one where it all clicked and I had these chords that resonated just right, shaking the entire warehouse. It's a simple but raw progression that was ripe for the addition of melodic guitars, as well as synthesizer programming from myself and co-producer Jason Begin [Vytear]. Lyrically, it's about escape and survival, as the events that were unfolding in 2020 were prophesied by the books I was reading throughout the year."
