[photo by Travis Heacock]
Denver metallers THE MUNSENS will kick off their Speedfreak 2018 Tour this Wednesday, February 14th, with additional tour and recording plans to follow.
THE MUNSENS‘ upcoming ten-day Speedfreak 2018 will run through Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, then crossing into Mexico for a show in Juarez, before heading home, closing the tour down in their hometown on February 24th. The tour will encompass both new and return cities for the band and include bills with notable heavy acts including two North Carolina shows with TOKE, as well as shows with Forming the Void, Doomstress, Communion, Bridge Farmers, Abrams, Necropanther, and more.
Two weeks after the Speedfreak dates, THE MUNSENS head back down to Texas for a trio of unofficial SXSW festival appearances 13th, 14th, and 15th, including a return to Boss Tweed Backline’s Black Smoke Conjuring, Wicked Bad’s SX Stoner Jam, and a prime slot at the brand-new Stoner Daze festival.
THE MUNSENS will be unveiling a majority of the material off their upcoming album on these tour dates, and directly following the Austin dates, the band heads back to the East Coast to record a new album, where they will bunker down at Moonlight Mile Recording in Hoboken, New Jersey with Mike Moebius (Pilgrim, Natur, Kings Destroy), who recorded their 2014 EP Weight Of Night. “We’ve been dying to get back and record with Mike for a long while, but the logistics have been tough,” says bassist Mike Goodwin. “We’ve got a really good idea of what we want as a final product with this album and Mike is the guy to get us there.”
The follow up to 2016’s Abbey Rose, the yet-to-be-named new album from THE MUNSENS be the band’s first official “full-length” title; a decidedly caustic and critical assemblage of new tracks running roughly fifty minutes in length. The band has experimented with their sound to a greater degree since Graham Wesselhoff joined the band on drums in the summer of 2016 and this new album will continue to reflect that shift. “Simply put, we want a more aggressive sound on this album,” says Goodwin.
The new album title and release details will be announced later this spring, with a rough album release date of mid-July.
In the meantime, stream THE MUNSENS’ Abbey Rose RIGHT HERE, and see footage of “The Hunt Pt II” live in Denver HERE and “Abbey Rose” live in Austin HERE.
THE MUNSENS Tour Dates:
2/14/2018 Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS w/ Hyperbor, Braingea [info]
2/15/2018 Green Lantern – Lexington, KY w/ Dirtbag, Non Compliant, Yellow Cuss [info]
2/16/2018 The Odditorium – Asheville, NC w/ TOKE, Covenator, Reverend Reach Around [info]
2/17/2018 New York Pizza – Greensboro, NC w/ TOKE, Born Hollow, Noctomb, Darth Kannabyss [info]
2/18/2018 The Nick – Birmingham, AL w/ Doomstress, Beerwolf, Murder of Jane Crow [info]
2/19/2018 Santos – New Orleans, LA
2/20/2018 Freetown Boom Boom Room – Lafayette, LA w/ Forming the Void, Cheater Pipe [info]
2/21/2018 The Lost Well – Austin, TX w/ Communion, Thunderkief [info]
2/22/2018 The Mix – San Antonio, TX w/ Bridge Farmers
2/23/2018 Hysteria – Ciudad Juarez, MX w/ Tarantula, Ultimo Trip [info]
2/24/2018 Hi Dive – Denver, CO w/ Abrams, Necropanther [info]
3/13/2018 Black Smoke Conjuring Festival – Austin, TX [info]
3/14/2018 SX Stoner Jam – Austin, TX [info]
3/15/2018 Stoner Daze – Austin, TX
6/10/2018 71Grind Fest – Colorado Springs, CO [info]
6/16/2018 Austin Terror Fest – Austin, TX [info]
6/30/2018 Electric Funeral Fest – Denver, CO [info]
Denver’s THE MUNSENS have remained a bit of an enigma over the last handful of years due to the scattered whereabouts of the band’s members, surfacing intermittently for a sporadic arrangement of tours and a pair of EP releases. With a new lineup — original drummer Shaun Goodwin moved to guitar, with Graham Wesselhoff taking the helm behind the drums — the band erupted back onto the scene in 2016 and 2017, touring the West extensively and bolstering their notoriety for not-to-be-missed live shows. THE MUNSENS will continue the charge in 2018, with a new record due out mid-summer, a handful of tours on the books and appearances at a number of major North American festivals.
The Obelisk offered of Abbey Rose, “…while I might argue that something with such a front to back flow that also happens to be forty minutes long is an album whether THE MUNSENS want it to be or not, what they’ve specifically positioned as a second EP gives more than an ample showing of their hefty wares going into a long-player planned for release next year. If this is them laying groundwork, they’re making sure that ground is duly flattened before they build on it.” Doomed & Stoned praised, “THE MUNSENS are clearly going for the long game with Abbey Rose, preferring a carefully crafted climate of fear and loathing over quick thrills. These insistent riffs burrow deep into the subconscious, baptizing us into a world of the uncanny.” The Burning Beard reported, “It’s an impressive EP (though I’m having a tough time not thinking of it as at least a mini-album), with the whole of it almost feeling more like one long-ass song split into four parts for easier consumption. However you wanna look at it, it’s some damn fine doom of a more serious bent than most modern doom bands (especially those in Denver, Colorado, where THE MUNSENS make their home).”
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