Employed To Serve willrelease a digital deluxe version of their current studio album,Conquering, on March 10th via Spinefarm. This updated version will include 4 new tracks: a heady mix of the new, the Remix and the live, in addition to a fresh cover image.
The brand-new recording is ‘Take Back Control’, a typically full-on number produced & mixed by Lewis Johns who worked with the band on the Conquering album itself; the Remix, meanwhile, is an inventive re-working of Conquering track ‘Sun Up To Sun Down’ featuring New Zealand metal three-piece, Alien Weaponry; while the two live tracks were recorded last year on the Gojira tour of Europe.
Check out ‘Sun Up To Sun Down (ft. Alien Weaponry)’ HERE.
Justine Jones, Employed To Serve frontwoman offers: We always find it exciting to rework an already finalised song, and when the idea of doing it to a track from our latest album ‘Conquering’ came up, the obvious choice was ‘Sun Up to Sun Down’.
The idea of reworking a track is to add a new dimension to it, and what better way than bringing in new musicians to alter the entire DNA of the song. We asked the guys in Alien Weaponry if they would be up for this collaboration whilst on tour with them last Summer. We thought their vocal stylings could really add something to ’Sun Up…’. They seemed as enthusiastic about the idea as we were, so when we got back from tour we sent them the track to add their parts and we were stoked on the outcome! It’s also rather poetic, due to the time difference when the sun is rising here in the UK – it’s setting in their home country of New Zealand.”
Alien Weaponry add: “We’ve always wanted to be a part of a musical collaboration and we had such a blast with Employed to Serve on our last tour together that when they approached us to collab on “Sun Up to Sun Down” we were stoked to be a part of it! It couldn’t have been a more perfect song for us because it was our favourite song to hear them play every night on tour, that riff just stuck in our heads and we actively waited to hear it live while waiting around backstage. We think our musical styles have mixed well and the gang vocal element that we did has really added some power behind an already powerful riff. This was so much fun to be a part of and we can’t thank Employed to Serve enough for being an amazing band and amazing people!”
Handpicked by Gojira themselves, Employed To Serve head back out on the road as part of the ‘Fortitude Tour’ this month. Beginning in Dublin on Feb 11th 2023, the tour sees them play alongside Gojira and Alien Weaponry at the 10,400 capacity Alexandra Palace, London, before heading over to France to play even bigger rooms.
2023 ‘Fortitude Tour’ dates w/ Gojira and Alien Weaponry: –
FEBRUARY
11 Dublin, Ireland – The National Stadium
12 Belfast, Ireland – Ulster Hall
14 Newcastle, England – O2 City Hall Newcastle
15 Glasgow, Scotland – O2 Academy Glasgow
17 Cardiff, Wales – Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
19 Manchester, England – Victoria Warehouse
21 Nottingham – Motorpoint Arena
22 London, England – Alexandra Palace
24 Burdeaux, France – Arkea Arena
25 Paris, France – Accor Arena
26 Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal
28 Lyon, France – Halle Tony Garnier
MARCH
02 Munich, Germany – Zenith
03 Gliwice, Poland – Arena Gliwice
05 Wiesbaden, Germany – Kulturzentrum Schlachthof
Meanwhile, Employed To Serve have been announced to appear at a number of Summer festivals including Copenhell, Waken & mainstage Bloodstock.
Summer 2023 festival appearances: –
Fri, 2. June: ROCK AM Ring, Germany
Sun, 4. June: ROCK IM Park, Germany
Thu, 8. June: MYSTIC Festival, Poland
Sat, 10. June: Sweden Rock Festival
Wed, 14. June: Copenhell, Denmark
Thu, 22. June: Jera On Air, Netherlands
Fri, 23. June: With Full Force, Germany
Sat, 24. June: Vainstream, Germany
Thu, 29. June: Resurrection Festival, Spain
Wed, 2. August: Rockstadt Extreme, Romainia
Fri, 4. August: Waken, Germany
Sat, 12. August: Bloodstock
ETS’s current studio album, Conquering, was released via Spinefarm on September 17th 2021 to mass critical acclaim; landing #4 in Metal Hammer’s albums of the year list and #6 in Kerrang! Conquering is a fully realised metamorphosis into the band they’ve always wanted to be.
Four albums in, and a steady stream of accolades in tow, Employed To Serve’s meteoric rise from genre hopefuls to becoming one of UK metal’s most consistently captivating bastions is indisputable.
