MANIPULATOR: No Echo Premieres “Tangled Insides” Video From NYC Grindcore Project Of This Is The Last Time/Ex-Sunless Member; Drawing Secret Circles LP With Video Game Nears November Release

September 28, 2023 Infrared Magazine Music News, News, Press Releases Comments Off

No Echo is hosting an exclusive video premiere of “Tangled Insides,” the new track from New York City-based avant-grindcore/hardcore solo act MANIPULATOR. The song is the second single preceding the outfitâs impending second album, Drawing Secret Circles, nearing release in November.

Mercilessly unloading its salvo of twenty tracks in fourteen minutes, Drawing Secret Circles takes the MANIPULATOR attack to new levels of musical intensity. With project founder Andrew Notsch handling the instrumentation and vocals, the record also features guest vocals from Derrick Karg, Tim Bradley, and Juan Vargas, and additional guitar on âFear And Mystery Drownâ by Lucas Wyssbrod (Monovoth). The final production and mastering were handled by Adam Tucker of Signaturetone (Ulthar, Thou, Sunless) and the record was completed with art by Notsch.

In addition to the vinyl and digital album, Drawing Secret Circles is paired with a music video that runs the course of the entire record. The album also features its own video game developed by SpaceMicroscope, the creator of SwordCar, where the listener can play along to the album, and each track is a level. An accompanying art book features companion art pieces which visually tie-in with the music video and video game, making for a fully immersive experience. In addition to shirts, patches, and more, the merch for Drawing Secret Circles also features a DVD version of the video and more.

The LPâs rapid-fire new single “Tangled Insides” features Notschâs This Is The Last Time bandmate Tim Bradley. Notsch writes, “From the mind and mouth of Tim Bradley, including a guest vocal spot from him, âTangled Insidesâ tells a disgusting tale of trial, error, and repetition.”

No Echoâs premiere includes, “…Notsch is clearly a adept student of the extreme sides of hardcore, metal, and punk. On MANIPULATOR‘s forthcoming sophomore album, Drawing Secret Circles, he combines grindcore and death metal into a sonic maelstrom that hits you over the head with machine-gun-like rhythms, harsh vocals, and guitars that sound like they were forged in an industrial warehouse.”

View and blast MANIPULATORâs âTangled Insidesâ video from No Echoâs post RIGHT HERE.

Drawing Secret Circles will be released on November 3rd. The LP is a single-sided 12″ vinyl in two variants, with 100 copies each â Purple Splatter and Silver Swirl â in conjunction with multiple underground labels: Wise Grinds Records, Here Is Nowhere Records, Dead Red Queen Records, and Psychocontrol Records in Europe. Find preorders where âAnnihilated Prestigeâ is playing HERE.

Watch for additional audio/visual previews of Drawing Secret Circles to post over the weeks ahead.

Somewhere between the shadows of NYC’s skyscrapers and rat-infested gutters, MANIPULATOR grinds forward as intensely as the city itself: fast, loud, and unrelenting. Created by Andrew Notsch â also of instrumental progressive/post-metal band This Is The Last Time and formerly of technical death metal outfit Sunless, among others â this solo project fuses death metal, hardcore, and grind into an explosive amalgam of decimating proportions.

Notsch brings forth music concepts from some of his past and current musical projects, sometimes paying homage to his time in Sunless with dissonant intricate passages but most often, listeners will envision his knuckles being worn to the bone from being dragged across the cityâs unrelenting sidewalks. Beyond the music, Notsch also controls all of MANIPULATOR‘s visual identity including all music videos, media, layouts, and merchandise.

Longtime collaborator Tim Bradley (This Is The Last Time) supplies MANIPULATOR‘s lyrical narratives with an unyielding sense of urgency, brutalism, and commentary on the falsehoods and lies of mankind. Bradley also supplies the samples and sound work by manipulating and orchestrating their use much like an actual instrument.

MANIPULATOR isn’t redefining genres; it merely seeks to create a no-holds-barred auditory assault that is as brutal as it is fun. Catharsis through brutality. Release through aggression. With every blistering riff, every blast beat, and every scream, MANIPULATOR invites you to embrace the chaos to calm the soul.