Photo by D. Torrieri

New school grind practitioners Escuela Grind have firmed up plans to release the highly-anticipated follow up to their acclaimed 2022 full length Memory Theater with the announcement of Dreams On Algorithms. The album is set to land October 18th via MNRK Heavy and again sees the band teaming with revered producer Kurt Ballou to better tap into their brand of brazen heft. 

Given the loaded title and its inherent social commentary, Escuela Grind vocalist Katerina Economou spoke about the intentions behind the statement and how the project offers an important snapshot of current social landscape.

"We wanted to write an album that identifies what it’s like to consume in this era we live in: what we receive through our phones, the social media landscape, and personalized algorithms, and how it is translated by our subconscious. I think most people can relate to something in their online sphere infecting their dreams. This transfer was something we really wanted to expand on, and all of the songs have themes relating to dream analysis and technology."

Having already debuted new music earlier this year with the pummeling, "Always Watching You", the band has now shared a second preview from their next era with the release of dynamic track, "Turbulence". Offering a stylistic tangent to the band's signature relentlessness, "Turbulence" features clean vocals and a drastic tempo shift that serves to accentuates the band's eventual onslaught. 

Escuela Grind drummer Jesse Fuentes detailed how a few especially rough flights ignited a creative spark that eventually became the band'a latest single. "I had the idea for the "Turbulence" title during a plane ride where I thought I was actually gonna die. My mind was fixated on landing and playing the next show. It helped me cope, and then it kept happening on a couple of flights after that. 

My last in-person conversation with Napalm Death's Shane Embury was very emotional. He suggested we add clean vocals after he overheard Katerina doing some clean singing on the tour bus. The vocal hook and melody on 'Turbulence' was created a day before vocals were to be recorded at GodCity. We took that airplane experience, and wrote some straightforward, but meaningful lyrics."

Economou further acknowledge the stylistic departure of the single and emphasized how progression is something the band is always striving for. "It will be immediately obvious when you first hear this song that it is a departure for us. We wanted to take a risk with "Turbulence", and after performing so many live shows over the last year we were ready to compile all that influence. The clean singing may take some people off-guard coming from a grind/hardcore band, but after touring with Napalm Death, we realized we wanted to incorporate that aspect into our music in a similar way. We definitely wanted a grungy, catchy chorus to sing at all of our upcoming festival appearances, and I hope the fans like the song as much as we do."

Escuela Grind delivers the announcement as they continue on an extensive European tour. Along with the band's own headlining dates, Escuela Grind will also make several festival appearances in the coming weeks. See the current list of confirmed dates and cities below. 

Dreams On Algorithms arrives October 18th via MNRK Heavy. Order the album - HERE.