Poison Ruin’s new album Härvest comes out on April 14th via Relapse Records. Harvest was mastered by Arthur Rizk. It sees its release on April 14 alongside the reissue of their 2021 LP which has established the band as one of punk and the underground’s newest beloved treasures. Poison Ruin will tour extensively this year. Next up are two record release shows in NYC and their hometown, Philadelphia just before heading overseas for a full EU/UK run including a performance at Roadburn.

Just ahead of its release, Poison Ruin share their melodic thrasher, “Torture Chamber” which questions the limits and conviction of one’s own beliefs: “What is a truth for which you’d die? And what are the words that could set you free?”

“I’ve always found fantasy tropes to be incredibly evocative,” vocalist/guitarist Mac Kennedy notes, “that said, even though they are a set of symbols that seem to speak to most people of our generation, they are often either apolitical or co-opted for incredibly backwards politics.”

Harvest’s lyrics and imagery, Kennedy reworks fantasy imagery as a series of totems for the downtrodden, stripping it of its escapist tendencies and retooling it as a rich metaphor for the collective struggle over our shared reality: “Instead of knights in shining armor and dragons, it’s a peasant revolt,” he explains, “I’m all for protest songs, but with this band I’ve found that sometimes your message can reach a greater audience if you imbue it with a certain interactive, almost magical realist element.”

These are not superficial or self-aggrandizing political statements. Rather, Poison Ruin stares into the abyss of present-day life with a sober and empathetic outlook, portraying our cracked reality as a complex and difficult to parse miasma of competing desires.

Poison Ruin
Härvest
Track Listing
Relapse Records

01 – Pinnacle of Ecstasy
02 – Tome of Illusion
03 – Torture Chamber
04 – Härvest (Official Music Video)
05 – Frozen Blood
06 – Resurrection I
07 – Resurrection II (Official Music Video)
08 – Augur Die
09 – Blighted Quarter
10 – Bastard’s Dance
11 – Slowly Through the Dark

Poison Ruin 2023 Tour Dates

Apr 13: Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Apr 15: Brooklyn, NY – Meadows
Apr 18: Antwerp, BE – Antwerp Music City
Apr 19: Tilburg, NL – Roadburn
Apr 20: Hamburg, DE – Komet
Apr 21: Leipzig, DE – ZxRx
Apr 22: Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
Apr 23: Prague, CZ – Underdogs Ballroom
Apr 25: Vienna, AT – Venster99
Apr 26: Linz, AT – Kapu
Apr 27: Zagreb, HR – Attack!
Apr 28: Bologna, IT – DEV
Apr 29: Parma, IT – Splinter Club
Apr 30: Innsbruk, AT – PMK
May 02: Geneve, CH – La Makhno
May 03: Marseille, FR – Molotov
May 04: Bilbao, ES – El Nido
May 05: Madrid, ES – Wurlitzer Ballroom
May 06: Barcelona, ES – Sala Vol
May 07: Toulouse, FR – Skatepark Le Petit
May 09: Bristol, UK – Crown
May 10: Manchester, UK – The Gulliver
May 11: Glasgow, UK – The Old Hairdressers
May 12: Newcastle, UK – The Lubber Fiend
May 13: London, UK – New River Studios
May 14: Portsmouth, UK – The Loft
May 16: Paris, FR – Glazart
May 17: Kortrijk, BE – The Pits
May 18: Nijmegen, NL – De Onderbroek
May 19: Nurnberg, DE – Projekt 31
May 20: Dresden, DE – Over The Edge
May 21: Weimar, DE – Gerber 3

Pre-order Harvest by Poison Ruin HERE