NY/UK Hardcore Quartet Stray from the Path is back with their 9th Studio album, Euthanasia. After releasing Internal Atomics towards the end of 2019, the band were unfortunately hit by the pandemic the same way many others were. With the entire band disheartened and unsure if they wanted to continue, Drummer Craig Reynolds and Guitarist Tom Williams moved to twitch to fill the uncertainty and rekindle their love of performing. By doing so, the band started work on this, which is their heaviest, bleakest and darkest album yet.
Within moments of the opening track Needless Things, listeners are given one of the darkest instrumentals the band has written alongside vocals that would feel right at home on any release from RATM. The same can be said about May You Live Forever, a truly brutal yet bouncy filled with incredible drumming and bass work that allows vocalist Andrew Dijorio to spit bars across the entire run time. Track 3, III, is the third in a series of songs entitled Badge & A Bullet, a series of songs dedicated to calling out the systematic oppression caused by the police force. Like the tracks before it, this is the heaviest, darkest track of the series that refuses to hide the band’s thoughts.
Track 4 is the first single that was released for the album, aptly titled Guillotine, and anyone familiar with the band’s political stance knows exactly what the song is about from the title alone, and is accompanied by pure brutality from the instrumentals. The themes and style from this point all continue along the same path with Chest Candy, Bread and Roses (which features Jesse Barnett of Stick To Your Guns and focuses on people who dedicate themselves to humanitarian work), Law Abiding Citizen and pretty much every track until the albums closer.
The closer, Ladder Work, is the final track I want to properly delve into. Coming in at 6 and a half minutes long, it’s the band’s longest song to date and easily the heaviest they’ve written. Listeners are given an utterly brutal, groove-infested onslaught of political nihilism that encapsulates perfectly how many of the left-wing feel. I would argue that Ladder Work is the best track the band have ever written, even though it is truly bleak looking at everything that could’ve been.
Euthanasia is, to me, Stray From The Path’s strongest album to date. It’s impossible to talk about this album without diving into the politics and it does an utterly amazing job of spreading the messages it wants to. Alongside this, the musicianship is the heaviest and most brutal the band has put out yet. An easy 10/10 and a damn good contender for my album of the year.
Review: Dan Stapleton
Euthanasia track list:
1. Needful Things
2. May You Live Forever
3. III
4. Guillotine
5. Chest Candy
6. Bread & Roses feat. Jesse Barnett
7. Law Abiding Citizen
8. The Salt In Your Spit
9. Neighborhood Watch
10. Ladder Work
Pre-Orders: https://sftp.orcd.
STRAY FROM THE PATH THE NEW ALBUM, EUTHANASIA, OUT SEPTEMBER 9TH ON UNFD
PLUS: INTIMATE ALBUM RELEASE UK & EU HEADLINE DATES IN OCTOBER
The tour sees the band play the following venues:
OCTOBER 2022
11 HANNOVER, DE – Music Zentrum
12 DRESDEN, DE – Chemiefabrik
13 SCHWEINFURT, DE – Alter Stattbahnhof
14 KARLSRUHE, DE – Die Stadtmitte
15 ESSEN, DE – Crowdsalat Festival *SFTP only
16 ENDSCHEDE, NL – Metropool
17 BRIGHTON, UK – Patterns
18 NEWCASTLE, UK – The Cluny
19 EDINBURGH, UK – The Mash House
20 BRISTOL, UK – The Fleece
21 SHEFFIELD, UK – The Foundry
22 LONDON, UK – The Dome
OTHER UPCOMING LIVE DATES:
w/ The Devil Wears Prada
AUGUST 2022
04 Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
05 Detroit, MI – Majestic
06 Columbus, OH – Kemba Live!
07 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls
09 Baltimore, MD – Sound Stage
10 Reading, PA – Reverb
11 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
12 Boston, MA – Paradise
13 Montreal, QC – Corona
14 Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
16 Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation
17 Chicago, IL – House of Blues
18 Kansas City, MO – Truman
19 Denver, CO – Oriental Theatre
20 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
21 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
23 Seattle, WA – El Corazon
24 Portland, OR – Hawthorne
25 Sacramento, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
26 Los Angeles, CA – Regent
27 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
28 Mesa, AZ – Nile Theatre
30 San Antonio, TX – Vibes
31 Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
SEPTEMBER 2022
01 Dallas, TX – South Side Music Hall
02 Memphis, TN – Growlers
03 St. Louis, MO – Red Flag
04 Ft. Wayne, IN – Piere’s
06 Nashville, TN – Eastside Bowl
07 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
09 Tampa, FL – The Orpheum
10 Columbia, SC – The Senate
11 Danville, VA – Blue Ridge Festival
(w/ Beartooth and Motionless In White)
MARCH 2023
09 Frankfurt, DE – Jahrhunderthalle
10 Zurich, CH – Volkhaus
11 Luxembourg, LU – Den Atelier
12 Paris, FR – Le Cabaret Sauvage
14 Glasgow, UK – Barrowland Ballroom
17 Manchester, UK – Victoria Warehouse
18 Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy Birmingham
19 London, UK – O2 Academy Brixton
21 Tilburg, NL – 013
23 Cologne, DE – Palladium
24 Munich, DE – Zenith
25 Vienna, AT – Gasometer
28 Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique
29 Stuttgart, DE – Porsche Arena
30 Hamburg, DE – Sporthalle
31 Leipzig, DE – Hause Auensee
APRIL 2023
01 Berlin, DE – Columbiahalle