Generation Kill Unleashes New Music Video for “Rat King”

Photo credit: Travis Ilapit

People often wonder how songwriters come up with the lyrical content for their music. Artists can find inspiration from the unlikeliest of places. Nowhere is this more evident than in newest song from New York-based thrash metal band Generation Kill. The song, titled “Rat King,” is based on a rather nightmarish scenario involving vermin.

“I watched the documentary Rats by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock,” explained frontman Rob Dukes. “It impacted me so much that I was immediately inspired to write a song about rats, maggots, and roaches taking over the planet Earth. Shortly after finishing the lyrics, our guitarist Jay Velez just so happened to send me the music he had been working on and it ended up matching perfectly with the lyrics. Feedback on the song so far has been overwhelmingly positive and I think our fans are gonna really dig it.”

The accompanying music video utilizes animation to depict a nuclear war decimating the United States. Hordes or rats survive and repopulate the world as its new dominant species with a literal rat king ruling over a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The video uses some intense imagery, but it matches the intensity of the music itself.

Generation Kill has been creating intense music since 2008. Dukes formed the band while on hiatus from touring with legendary thrash band Exodus. The band’s debut album, Red, White, and Blood was well-received with their cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Wish” getting heavy radio play. By their sophomore album, We’re All Gonna Die, the band would get even more radio play with the song “Prophets of War” getting the number one slot on Sirius Liquid Metal’s “Dirty Dozen.” A collaboration with hip hop icon Daryl McDaniels of Run-DMC resulted in the album The Dark Project recorded under the name Fragile Mortals.

Artwork credit: Melody Myers

Their next album is MKUltra from Blood Blast Distribution. It is set to be released on September 27, 2021. The band continues their association with producer Zuess, who worked on their second album. New bass player Max Velez is now playing alongside his brother, guitarist Jason Velez. Drummer Rob Youells and guitarist Jason Trenczer also return for the current line-up. If “Rat King” is any indication, MKUltra is set to be a blistering barrage of thrash metal with Duke’s characteristic vocal skill on full display.

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