Haest Announce New Album “Belabour”

Haest‘s sound has been constantly moving. In the past they have taken cues from hardcore, doom, sludge, noise as well as a vast number of other styles. It is on Belabour that Haest have truly found their own voice. Over the course of these 11 tracks, they have managed to forge an entirely individual sound of their own. Belabour will be released on the 13th January 2023 via TNSrecords (UK) and No Time Records (US), whilst the album explores many vastly different genres the overall effect flows seamlessly to create a cohesive set of songs always eager to surprise the listener with where they’re going to go next.

In the past, Haest‘s releases have each been separated from each other not only by their constantly evolving sound but also by each one playing upon different lyrical themes and Belabour is no different. On this record Haest are discussing how “we are who we pretend to be”, particularly in a modern digital age where we play out our lives through second hand versions of ourselves and how these make-believe lives infect our reality. The album’s title can mean “to attack someone physically or verbally” or “to argue a point in excessive detail”; both symptoms of our social media obsessed world.

The heavy lyrical themes have not affected the band’s sense of humour, however, and still intact are song titles chosen randomly from a list of absurd quotes collected whilst the band members are on the road. This list has become something of a legend and, at this point, clocks-in in the thousands but here we’re treated to such accidental wisdom as It’s Only Poison If You Die, the deliberate nonsense of Car Crash Chip Gunge, the stern warning If Debbie Had Done Dover She’d Be Dead and the completely unexplainable Scatnan.

Following on from their 2020 debut album Anomie as well as a number of well received EP’s and a couple of tracks on the recent TNSrecord‘s International Split album, Haest‘s second album continues their experiments into what is possible in the realm of DIY punk music. Since the release of their debut, Haest have been a constant fixture on the DIY punk scene playing up and down the country and in mainland Europe including support slots with Cro-Mags, Skindred, Clowns, Discharge, Subhumans and many more. Recorded once more at The Organworks with Ben Hannah (Nosebleed / Acid Drop) after a long gestation period over the Covid lockdown, Belabour is a huge step forward for the band but it still feels like this is only the start of how far they can push themselves in the years to come.