NEWS RELEASE
Montreal, QC – March 14, 2023
ALL ELSE FAILS Announces Mexico Tour + No Mames MetalFest and New Video “Flesh/Excess/Wealth”
New EP âThe Incident at Black Lakeâ Out Now!
L-R – Coco Lee (Bass/Vocals ) | John Saturley (Guitar) | Barrett Klesko (Vocals/Guitar) | Nelson Collins – Lee (Drums)
Photo Credit – Barrett Klesko â FadeBack Studios United
Canadaâs All Else Fails will be leaving the frozen lands of Canadian winter for the heat and the beaches of Mexico for a one-week-long tour this coming March, which includes a performance at the No Mames MetalFest in Cozumel, MX (dates listed below). The tour is in support of their latest EP “The Incident at Black Lake” released this past September.
Vocalist/guitarist Barrett Klesko comments:
“It’s official, All Else Fails will be headed to the Riviera Maya in a couple of weeks to perform some select shows. We’re really excited to perform for our Mexican fans who have supported us over the years.”
In addition to their tour announcement, the band is sharing their latest music video for “Flesh/Excess/Wealth” via its premiere on Summa Inferno HERE.â
All Else Fails‘ latest offering âThe Incident at Black Lakeâ is the band’s tenth studio recording. A deep dive into emotional turmoil, violent riffs, and technical mastery, this EP is an evolution of the band in every aspect of their musicality, its songs are heavier, more complex, and deeper than ever. Employing elements of other genres like industrial, noise, moody electronics, or ambient sampling has always been a hallmark of the band, but take a new approach on this album.
The three original songs and a cover of Death’s “Crystal Mountain” explore themes of devastating mental illness, dystopian mass existential nihilism, and ideological fascism. According to the band, It took over 2 full years to write and produce this EP, they took their time with every part, every note, and every modulated warble. Every musical element has a place and purpose. They are telling a horrifically personal, furiously aggressive, and unnervingly beautiful musical story of mental terror and surviving despair. They continue to explain:
âItâs been really interesting this time around. We started writing this in the early days of the pandemic, so we didnât really know if or when we would get to play live again. That led to us really taking our time to write each part exactly how we wanted. After we had finished writing and tracking the main instruments (drums, guitars, bass, vocals), then we spent over a year working on the programming, samples, keyboards, and production elements. We basically wrote a second album over top of the first one, it was kind of like writing a score to our own album. In two years, we are happy to say that we made no sacrifices anywhere on this release.â
Guitarist/vocalist Barrett Klesko shares that this EP is specifically about his spiral into mental illness. Falling into a pit of addiction and depression he was abusing his mind and body, and allowing others to do the same. Struggling with derealization and dissociation, he became almost totally withdrawn in his mind. The day they finished their last track on the EP, Klesko checked himself into a recovery center. This EP offers an honest glimpse into that dark, internal turmoil.
Reaching a new level of technical metal prowess and adding a dramatically more dynamic vocal style, it is with a dark heart that All Else Fails presents âThe Incident at Black Lakeâ.
Recommended for fans of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Chimaira, and Killswitch Engage, the EP is available at Allelsefails.bandcamp.com, Spotify, Apple Music.â
Music Video – I, Defiler – https://youtu.be/RwNjIFc6aPYâ
Music Video – Devour the Sun ft. Seedy Mitchell – https://youtu.be/2npL3dWJifoâ
Music Video Crystal Mountain (Death Cover) – https://youtu.be/Fx5mMMgOZy0â
Tour Dates:â
March 16 – Route 666 – Cancun, MX
March 17 – Taqueria Coapenitos (AEF taco hangout with fans)
March 18 – No Mames MetalFest – Tony B’s – Cozumel, MX
March 19 – Private Event – Cozumel, MX
March 20 – Diego’s Cozumel, MX (AEF taco hangout with fans)
March 21 – El Pezcozon (AEF taco hangout with fans)
March 22 – Sereno Rooftop (AEF taco hangout with fans)
Track Listing:â
1. I, Defiler (5:48)
2. Devour the Sun (8:24) ft. Seedy Mitchell
3. Flesh/Excess /Wealth (5:36)
4. Crystal Mountain (5:19)
EP Length: 25:09
All Else Fails is:
Barrett Klesko â Vocals, Guitar
John Saturley â Guitar
Coco Lee â Bass, Vocals
Nelson Collins-Lee â Drums
For more info: Facebook.com/AllElseFailsCanada | Instagram.com/allelsefailscanada
About:
Over the last 15 years, Edmonton, Alberta based award-winning metal band All Else Fails has become a cornerstone of the melodic heavy metal community in Canada. Combining intense riffs, intricate rhythm sections, brutal guttural screams, and melodic yet unusual vocal lines paired with relevant and relatable lyrics, All Else Fails’ message resonates with us all.
Formed in 2006 with the release of their self-titled EP, All Else Fails has gone on to release 9 studio albums, many of which have garnered awards and nominations from across the Canadian music industry and have propelled the band into live performances all over the world, including their massively successful tour of India in 2017.
For the past two years, the band has been hard at work writing their new EP “The Incident at Black Lake.” A deeply personal, brutally honest, and staggeringly complex take on the reality-bending mental struggles of vocalist and founder, Barrett Klesko (The Misfires, The Order of Chaos). The band is filled out by guitarist John Saturley (The Order of Chaos, Skepsis), bassist and vocalist Coco Lee (Eternal Prophecy), and drummer Nelson Collins-Lee (The 21st Agenda, Skepsis). The EP is produced by Bevin Booth of In the Booth Recordings and engineered at The Electric Treehouse in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2022, the band is returning to their DIY roots by mindfully abandoning their social media and redirecting their energy to contributing to their local metal scene by building a direct personal connection to their fans and followers, living in line with a humanist philosophy and encouraging a culture of support between artists. All Else Fails’ new single “Flesh /Excess /Wealth” drops in early September with the full EP “The Incident at Black Lake” releasing September 30th. Fans can experience their explosive new live show this fall in Western Canada.
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“The Incident at Black Lake might be âjustâ a four-track EP by All Else Fails, but its 25 minutes of music are absolutely intense and electrifying, proving why theyâre undoubtedly one of the most important names of the Canadian Metalcore scene.” – The Headbanging Mooseâ
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â“The third theme is my favorite without a doubt. âFlesh/Excess/Wealthâ has one of the most vibrant riffs starting at minute 2`40« and they make up for it with a percussion chorus that had previously been heard on the vocals. Finally, when I couldn’t like it more, ALL ELSE FAILS decides to end with a tribute to my beloved DEATH. The cover that they do with âCrystal Mountainâ, uniting the trail that Chuck Schuldiner left us while leaving his personal mark, to take off his hat. I love these Canadians and look forward to their next album.” – 9.5/10 – Necromance Magazineâ
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â“The EP itself is a cyclone of melodic metalcore fire, death metal toxicity and progressive imagination revealing ALL ELSE FAILS at their most open, intense and thrilling.” – The Ringmaster Reviewâ
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â“Being dark in nature, it tells the suffering that Klesko was facing and what he was seeing in his head. While very dark at times, itâs mind-bendingly beautiful to see it from this perspective. And I canât wait to hear what else the band has to offer.” 4/5 – Metal Epidemicâ
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â“âFlesh/Excess/Wealthâ is a close second for my favorite song, however. Klesko says he wrote it about losing his sense of humanity. Itâs a really aggressive song, but also contains some really beautiful clean singing and a wicked guitar solo. The final song on the EP is a cover of âCrystal Mountainâ by the band DEATH, a song much loved by the band. Lyrically, the song fits the dark tone the band set for the previous songs on the EP. I think the band did a good job with the cover and putting their own sound to it. Overall, I thought this was a great EP where I could really feel the emotions that went into writing it.” – Metal-Templeâ
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â“”The Incident At Black Lake” is a solid EP” – Powermetal.deâ
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â“Canadian band All Else Fails are out with the EP “The Incident at Black Lake”, and this is a production that probably will be of interest to some fans of progressive metal. While a variety of a core based style of metal is at the heart of the proceedings here, the different vocal tones, the changes and alterations over to atmospheric laden and melodic metal, what might be described as thrash metal as well as some quirky instrument movements and expressive arrangement choices does add what I’d describe as a progressive spirit to the proceedings here… If metalcore with an expressive orientation and progressive aspirations sounds interesting to you, this is an EP you might consider becoming a bit more familiar with.” – Progressorâ
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