Aside from ruining our headline with an insanely long song name, not to mention the length of the band name, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die have announced a new album: it’s called Illusory Walls and comes out on October 8 through Epitaph (with a physical to follow in December). Voalist/guitarist David F. Bello says the title “refers to a hidden surface that seems to prevent entry, but upon inspection is nothing more than a visual illusion.”
The first voyage through these illusory walls comes in “Invading The World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance”, a six-minute scorcher that shifts through several gears, each one more viciously beautiful than the one before. It begins with Bello inhabiting the mind of a consumerist slave (“I crave more luxury disposables / A beautiful gym to have a heart attack in”) and goes on to describe eating at your desk and getting stress-induced aneurisms. In the chorus, TWIABP flip to a more honest outpouring as they exclaim “Human life and burial / Is as important as survivors make it,” while guitars twirl around each other like thorny vines. As usual with TWIABP, there’s a ton more narrative to get stuck into when listening, which wouldn’t be done justice in text – but we do want to shout out the use of the word “rhizome”, which we hadn’t heard before, in the excellent line “A rhizome of frayed nerves / As the market bell sounds.” Every day’s a school day.
Watch the video for “Invading The World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance” below, or listen to it on streaming platforms.
TWIABP’s new album Illusory Walls arrives digitally on October 8 and physically on December 3 through Epitaph (pre-order/save). You can find the band on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
TWIABP TOUR DATES
10/12 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
10/13 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
10/15 Orlando, FL Soundbar
10/16 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
10/17 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
10/19 Austin, TX The Parish Room
10/20 Dallas, TX Club Dada
10/22 Phoenix, AZ The Rebel Lounge
10/23 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
10/24 San Francisco, CA Bottom Of The Hill
10/26 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
10/27 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
10/29 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
10/30 Denver, CO Globe Hall
10/31 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
11/2 St. Paul, MN Turf Club
11/3 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
11/4 Columbus, OH Ace of Cups
11/5 Ann Arbor, MI The Blind Pig
11/6 Toronto, ON Lee’s Place
11/7 Buffalo, NY Rec Room
11/9 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
11/10 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom
11/11 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
11/12 Philadelphia, PA The Church
11/13 Brooklyn, NY Elsewhere
11/14 Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Lanes
