Some of you may know this, but record companies – generally – when they send albums out for review, give you a bit of background too. The idea, I assume, is to make chancers like me seem intelligent. Sometimes you read them, sometimes you don’t.
I didn’t need to the one with ‘State of Emergency’ in honesty. I am a long-standing Prong fan. Have been since the early ’90s when, bored by Grunge, I got into bands like Helmet and found my way to Life Of Agony and then Prong. But I did, and included in the press stuff is a quote from the main man, Tommy Victor, who says of “State of Emergency,” “It’s a very ‘Prong’ record. I think it’s totally genre-transcending and definitely ignores what’s going on out there these days.”
Six years have passed since the last time we got a full-length Prong album, and in that time, the world has gone to hell and back. “State of Emergency” not only sounds like it, but it also picks up where “Zero Days” (which predicted the end of the world and seemed right) left off.
Tommy Victor crafted these songs together with producer Steve Evetts, and there’s not an ounce of flab here. This is as tight and taut as can be.
“The Descent” does the prog thing of being thrash without being thrash. Tommy Victor’s guitar work is sensational. Then there’s a proper beatdown in “State Of Emergency” with machine gun drums, creating a kind of dystopian confusion. “Breaking Point” takes the aggression even further, and even for a Prong album, this sounds incredibly angry.
“Non Existence” is like a slab of metal, but it has melody too. The hooks of Prong cling to you. “Light Turns Black” invites you to get into a moshpit; it’s that intense. “Who Told Me” is like screaming into the void, an expression of frustration and disillusionment.
“Obedience” is as clean and clinical as any operation, and “Disconnected” pulsates with energy and a sense of urgency. The lyrics, “It means nothing to me, your needs,” reflect the spirit of 2023, where societal values seem to have eroded, perhaps reminiscent of the infamous phrase uttered by that bitch Thatcher, “There is no such thing as society.” Greed is good? This is the result.
“Compliant” questions if you stand with the enemies of the regime or against them, leaving you with a choice. “Back (NYC)” feels like a catharsis, perhaps signalling the end of a tumultuous journey and has Victor back where he belongs and where this band needs to be. “Working Man” takes Rush’s classic track and transforms it into something even more potent. Geddy Lee never sounded like this. “I think we nailed it,” Victor reckons in that supporting material. He’s not wrong.
“State Of Emergency” provides a powerful soundtrack to a world that needs intervention. It won’t change anything, but it is very much Prong unleashed, uncaged, and ready – who knows what for.
Rating: 8.5/10
