Alcopop! Records are overjoyed to announce news of Australian party punks DZ DEATHRAYS’ fifth studio album Positive Rising: Part 2. This highly anticipated follow up to 2019’s Positive Rising: Part 1 will be released Friday 9th July 2021 via Alcopop! Records (UK) and IOHYOU (AUS).
In celebration of the release the trio have dropped their explosive new single ‘Fired Up’ as the official first taste of the forthcoming LP, and is out now on all good DSPs, accompanied by a trippy animated video directed by Thomas Rawle.
Watch here:
An anthemic sonic pep talk built for the live stage, the new single is drenched in everything DZ Deathrays fans adore about the band, and a showcase of what Positive Rising: Part 2 has in store.
Transitioning through over 15 different variants in its early stages, ‘Fired Up’ was starting to challenge the Brisbane 3-piece in the songwriting stage before a moment of clarity hit. As drummer Simon Ridley puts it, “basically at some point Shane (Parsons) just turned ‘Fired Up’ into a big stadium-rocking Bruce Springsteen-style anthem and I guess that’s when we knew what we were dealing with.”
‘Fired Up’ is the first single from the band since Positive Rising: Part 1’s release last year. PR:P1 saw widespread praise from international press, triple j and community radio, earned an ARIA nomination for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album, and took home the prize for Best Independent Punk Album at the 2019 AIR Awards.
After decamping to Los Angeles to record ‘Part 1’, the band returned home to record ‘Part 2’ in late 2019, along with producer Miro Mackie who traversed the globe to help bring ‘Part 2’ to life on the band’s home soil, leading to a clear tonal shift between the two albums. They’re nonetheless designed to be treated as two halves of a whole, from the songs—which the band hope will be played from beginning to end—to the artwork, which, if you put the two album pictures together, depicts a full day; a yin and yang, a full spectrum of the Positive Rising existence.
With a moodier tone than its predecessor, Positive Rising: Part 2 draws the outline of an apocalyptic scene, one that sees the band—Shane Parsons, Simon Ridley and Lachlan Ewbank—stepping outside of themselves, seeking out new perspectives and surveying the world from above. From up there, they don’t always like what they see, but Positive Rising: Part 2 offers a somewhat-hopeful ending to the sprawling rock saga.
When talking about the title track, Shane Parsons sums up the ethos of the album name beautifully as he explains, “Positive Rising is the closing song of the two-part album. The track comes from thoughts of an undercurrent of positivity throughout this world making its way to the surface. Starting small and developing into something that could potentially change lives for the better.”
Further details and music will be revealed over the coming months.
Positive Rising: Part 2 is released Friday 9th July 2021 via Alcopop! Records (UK) and IOHYOU (AUS)
Positive Rising: Part 2 tracklisting:
1. Skeleton Key
2. Fear The Anchor (feat. Ecca Vandal)
3. All Or Nothing
4. Kerosene
5. Fired Up
6. Riff City
7. Make Yourself Mad
8. Golden Retriever
9. Swept Up
10. Run The Red
11. Positive Rising
