Photo by Jessy Holtfreter
” A fight song if there ever was one.” – Metal Injection
Australia’s NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER are pleased to drop their latest sonic bruiser, “Garden Of The Grieving Mother.” Now streaming at Metal Injection, the track comes by way of the band’s I Watched You Burn full-length set for release on September 12th via Bleeding Art Collective and Blood Blast Distribution (Nuclear Blast Records/Believe). Preorders for the album are now available.
“If this album was a Nic Cage film, it would be Mandy,” vocalist and lyricist Nick Moriarty notes. “It’s dark, savage, and has a righteous thirst for bloody vengeance; we are pushing our sound to new extremes.”
On the band’s latest single, Moriarty offers, “‘In Garden Of The Grieving Mother,’ mother nature comes back to take that which is rightfully hers. The protagonist in the concept behind the album, after having eaten the tainted fruit of the corrupted tree of life, is infected with an incurable curse, his soul stripped from his flesh as he is condemned to rot away in a prison of the mind. Sentenced to an eternity in limbo between the life of chaos he has known and an uncertain future in the abyssal void that lies ahead, he can only watch on in hopelessness as the bodies around him are consumed by the Earth.”
Artwork for the album has been created by Giannis Nakos, who has worked with acts such as Emperor, The Crown, Aborted, and Suffocation, among others, with the video featuring the artwork created by Taigan Harris at Bleeding Art Collective.
Stream NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER’s “Garden Of The Grieving Mother” courtesy of Metal Injection HERE.
Watch NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER’s previously released video for “I Watched You Burn” HERE.
I Watched You Burn was mixed and mastered by Christian Donaldson (Suffocation, Cryptopsy, The Agonist, Get The Shot) and will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats.
Find preorders in the US HERE, in Australia/New Zealand/Asia HERE and Europe/UK HERE.
I Watched You Burn Track Listing:
- I Watched You Burn
- Valley Of Agony
- Godforsaken Silence
- The Executioner
- Tempest
- Garden Of The Grieving Mother
- Death In Bloom
- Legacies Of Dust
- Existing Beyond Death
- Tarnished Remains
NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER is a four-piece metal-driven hardcore act from Ballarat, Victoria. The band’s critically acclaimed 2022-released debut full-length, The Bones That Grew From Pain, led to features in key music media outlets including Decibel Magazine and a front page feature in HEAVY Mag while also featuring on a number of renowned Spotify Playlists. Wall Of Sound hailed, “a massive slab of chest-beating heaviness, tailor-made for the live stage,” while Angry Metal Guy wrote, “The album is an economical burner with 37 minutes of crushing riffs, blasting drums and screaming vocals. As the name suggests, NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER never relent.” New Noise concurred, “If you’re looking to take a break from fancy, artsy heavy music and need something that’ll strictly tap into your aggression and resolve, The Bones That Grew From Pain is a viable option… relentless.
This year’s follow-up, I Watched You Burn, continues the trajectory. Reveals vocalist Nick Moriarty, “I Watched You Burn as a whole is a bit of a concept album lyrically; one that continues exploring the themes which were covered in our earlier releases but builds on these concepts in more of a narrative and fantastical story-driven manner. Where [2021’s] Cast You Out EP was an introspective exploration of the self-struggling to overcome adversity in an unforgiving world, The Bones That Grew From Pain was a reflection of how the people around us handle the same burdens and project our misery outwards. I Watched You Burn is the culmination of a world which has unraveled and imploded under the weight of its occupants’ ignorance and malicious past, and a first person perspective into the extermination of all life on Earth. This is the tale of an immortal serial killer on a dying planet, coming to terms with life, death, and what it truly means to be human.”
Adds guitarist Justin Ellis, “Working with [engineer] Dylan Volk on this album was a lot of fun. Dyl is an incredible musician and perfectionist. We did so much preproduction on this release and picked apart every track I wrote. We really wanted to make sure we picked the absolute best riffs and built on those ideas. After making sure every track was dialed in, we started tracking and knocked it out in a few weeks. Dyl lives close by so I spent every night of the week tracking late. I feel this is our heaviest and most punishing release so far. It feels like the next level for NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER and makes me excited to continue writing more music in the future.”
In early 2025, it was revealed in The Guardian that the actor Nicolas Cage himself is a fan of the band, not only commenting that he thinks the band is terrific, but also quoting some of the band’s lyrics in an interview. With vicious go-for-the-throat sound and an incendiary live performance, NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER have truly earned the reputation of their namesake.
NICOLAS CAGE FIGHTER:
Nick Moriarty – vocals
Justin Ellis – guitars
Matt Davenport – drums
Connor McMillan – bass
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