In a nod to the iconic line from the film Stand By Me, the album's opening track and
first single, "Where Losers Go to Die," kicks off with frontman Tarek Ahmed
bellowing: "Hey man, want to see a dead body?" What follows is an eerie The Jesus
Lizard-esque dirge that slips into a Neanderthal breakdown, serving as a perfect
introduction to Intercourse's world. Choosing brutish simplicity as their weapon of
choice, the band prowls the shadowy fringes of noise rock and hardcore, a zone also
occupied by the likes of Chat Pile and Couch Slut. "We’re too weird for a lot of the
hardcore scene and too aggro for the weird scene," states Ahmed.
The band's sole founding member, Ahmed wields a singular vocal style that smashes the
line between the sublime and the ridiculous. With a strangulated roar, almost
cartoonish in its unhinged glory, Ahmed spouts painfully direct, often poetic, lyrics
about the pain of existence. His songs reference a litany of characters from his own past,
growing up in the backwoods of Connecticut as an Egyptian kid in the post-9/11 years,
and from the annals of true crime – hitman Richard "The Iceman" Kulkinski, bulldozer
enthusiast Marvin Heemeyer, and Bjork stalker Ricardo Lopez, to name a few. A 2021
write-up from No Echo hailed Ahmed as "a brilliant wordsmith I aspire to someday
match in skill."
Of the album's first single, "Where Losers Go to Die," Ahmed states: “The song is about
trying to fight your own existential dread and realizing how futile it is. Life sucks, it only
gets worse, and all anyone will offer you is clichéd advice."
The song's official music video is a lo-fi slice of unease that matches the song's anxiety to
a tee. "I directed the video and our guitarist Sean edited it," says Ahmed. "We were
going for a 'Blair Witch' vibe and I love how the vibe matches the album art."
Halo Castration Institute is Intercourse's ninth release in less than a decade. The album
was recorded at Dead Man’s Blade studio in New Britain, CT by Ryan Pelegano, and was
mastered by Mike Moschetto.
Includes unlimited streaming of Halo Castration Institute
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Intercourse "Halo Castration Institute" Cassette
Cassette + Digital Album
Cassette Version (/50)
Smoke Tinted Tape Shell
Redscroll Records: RSR049
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3 LP Bundle
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
All 3 of our lps!! Red EIP, Caramel Apple Rule 36, Black HCI (add $5 for splatter with a note)
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lyrics
The child I once was would cry at this old man’s cracked hands. I spent half my life stuck in traffic suffering the minutiae of stranger’s tragedies. Nice job pal you killed yourself rushing to that job you hate and you made everyone out here late. Something’s fucked when you’ve worked six days a week your entire adult life but still need to take out a loan to keep your house warm. It’s not just bad decisions, it’s capitalism, and I’ve shoveled enough of this shit to know the difference. They say do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, it’s funny cuz I’ve never had a job I liked. You bring the matches, I’ll bring the gas, we can build bonfires out of these bridges we’ll burn, we’ll have the last laugh. A steady diet of fatigue and emptiness. My hands are jealously someone else’s but I can have what’s left. I’m still stuck in traffic.
credits
from Halo Castration Institute,
released May 5, 2023
Guest vocals / additional lyrics by Pete Kovalsky
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