Magnolia Park Announce Concept Album 'VAMP'

One of the most exciting and forward-thinking groups in alternative music today, Orlando, FL quintet Magnolia Park are unveiling plans for their third record ‘VAMP’ - a neo-gothic concept album rich in world-building and gripping storytelling - out April 11 via Epitaph Records. Culling influence from the long-running Vampire Hunter D, iconic works like Star Wars, Dracula and Joseph Cambell’s legendary monomyth, the storyline details an ominous journey through Nocturne Nexus where rulers and rebels battle with the future hanging in the balance.

Here to set the tone for this expansive soundscape and storyline is 'CULT', an empowering, nü-metal rager that positions the protagonist of the narrative (a half-human, half-cyborg warrior named Aurora X1) readying her followers for an epic battle.

Barreling in with guttural basslines, djent riffs and hip-hop inspired record scratches, the band reveals, "'CULT' is a song about gaining back your power from an oppressor, made to inspire people to stick up for what is right and not let themselves be taken advantage of. This reflects in our story where Aurora and the Vampires have to stand up to a towering oppressive group called the ‘ShadowCult’.”

Across ‘VAMP’s’ 11 tracks – internally produced by the band’s own producers alongside Andrew Wade (A Day To Remember, Wage War), Hiram Hernandez (blessthefall, Real Friends) and Andy Karpovck (408, Taylor Acorn) and mixed by Zakk Cervini (Bad Omens, Bring Me The Horizon) – Magnolia Park soundtrack a dramatic tale of crimson blood and chrome-plated courage through their own mix of man and machine. Stacking whirring electronics and industrial undertones alongside sledgehammer breakdowns, walls of detuned guitars and seam-splitting vocals, they’ve modded out their uplifting pop-punk anthems for something heavier and more complex.

The project’s roots took place in Australia: after performing triumphant sets to thousands at the 2023 Good Things Festival, the band was more encouraged than ever to chase a bold, new, musical direction. They decided to tap into the heavier influences they’d begun dabbling in on Halloween Mixtape II (2023), adding a ferocious bite to their trademark sound. Born from this was 'SHALLOW' released last Summer, one of the first songs penned for the follow-up. Praised for its “thunderous instrumentation” (idobi), it led the band in a direction to think bigger about what the next set of songs could become. Before long, they were entrenched in building out the album’s details, crafting characters, settings, and narratives that add new layers of complexity and creativity to their already captivating sound.

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