Portland, Oregon’s Stress Test proudly share their new track “Coward,” from their upcoming self-titled album.
Listen to the track here:
Founding member Brandon Hill shares his thoughts:
“‘Coward’ is a response to what I see as the strange and misplaced hero-worship of cops prevalent in American culture. We’re taught the foundational myth that the police exist to protect us from crime, and bravely risk their lives doing so. That notion falls apart with a small amount of attention paid to their actual behavior, their incentives, and the ways that they’re utilized against the public rather than their slogans and public relations campaigns.
“Police defend the property and interests of the wealthy over the lives of citizens they claim to serve and protect. They are the means by which the ruling class enforce their will on the rest of us, the violent mechanism that maintains the social order which keeps power in the hands of a tiny percentage of the population. And yet not only do we not meet the brutality and coercion of this system with resistance, but we proudly flaunt our support and adoration for the institution and our obedience to it with flags and parades and all manner of public ass-kissing and cosplay. We wouldn’t dare to imagine it any other way.
“I wrote the lyrics to this song the day after hundreds of cops responded to an active elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas by assaulting the parents who were willing to intervene when the police were not. At the time, I considered them cowards, but it’s probably more accurate to say they just didn’t give a fuck. Now I think we’re the cowards.”
The upcoming album was recorded and mixed by Gabe Johnston at Falcon Studios. Brad Boatright handled the mastering duties at Audiosiege. The band will release the album through Oakland-based Transylvanian Recordings on February 28.
Brandon shares his thoughts about the album:
“This record documents an ongoing struggle to maintain a positive and hopeful outlook on humanity and its future; all of the songs on it are reflections of times when I’ve failed to do that. Life wouldn’t be worth living at all if it were filled only with misery – my own has had plenty of pleasure to go with the pain so far—but with Stress Test, I’m motivated by all of the hours and days and years that leave you demoralized and disgusted. Disgusted with the world, or especially with yourself.”
Track List:
Boiling Point
Degrees of Violence
Coward
Eternal Bliss
It Isn’t Real
Suffer
Bastard Behavior
God Sucks
Gullible
Stress Test
Something Rather Than Nothing
Preorder the album here.
Follow the band on Instagram.
Photo courtesy of the band
