Black Market Activities signs Phantom Glue

Official press release: Black Market Activities officially announces its newest signing: Phantom Glue. BMA will release the band's new album, A War of Light Cones, in early 2013. From Boston, Massachusetts, Phantom Glue name The Jesus Lizard, Neurosis, and Trouble as key influences, pounding out what Exclaim Magazine has termed "a heated bastion of caustic riffs and unearthly girth". Beneath the band's self-proclaimed "avalanche of distortion" lies a rich conceptual foundation where lyrics and artwork combine to evoke a Lovecraftian universe. Vocalist/guitarist Matt Oates, also the band's lyricist and resident cover artist, describes new album A War of Light Cones as "a nightmare/occult alternate history of Colonial America". Standout track "Perils", for example -- released in August on alt weekly The Boston Phoenix's Born of Fire, Vol. 2 compilation, alongside other Boston bands like Doomriders -- tells the tale of a trapper catching a creature whose pelt grants psychic gifts. Stream "Perils" here: Phantom Glue's second album and their first for BMA, A War of Light Cones was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studio (Converge, Cave In, Today Is The Day). Ballou's connection to Phantom Glue dates back to the 90s when he and Matt Oates were bandmates in The Huguenots. Phantom Glue's lineup is completed by guitarist Mike Gowell, bassist/vocalist Nick Wolf, and drummer Kyle Rasmussen. BMA boss Guy Kozowyk states, "We are proud to welcome Phantom Glue into the BMA family. As someone who grew up in Boston and still lives in the area, it means a lot to me to have a strong New England contingent on BMA. With the recent Hivesmasher album and now Phantom Glue, we're helping represent some of the exciting stuff going on here right now."