Slung’s second ever single, ‘Fire to Burn’, is out today via Fat Dracula and ready to set your world ablaze. The track comes along with accompanying music video of foreboding. The hard-riffing track was meant to be born into this world through Slung as its mouthpiece with the band’s knack for storytelling through their music coming to the fore. Conjuring shades of Red Fang, Baroness and Mastodon, ‘Fire to Burn’ radiates an impressive and impactful aura.

Says vocalist Katie Oldham “I fully believe that whatever divine intervention first brought the seeds of this song into our lives was not going to let us form it incorrectly, as our first attempts at completing it were thwarted. Notably, this was very soon after we visited a museum of magic and witchcraft whilst on tour. Throughout the whole process of writing this track there seemed to be this kind of mystical guiding force nudging it away from being anything other than what we ended up with. When the final vocal melody mainlined into my brain from this mysterious otherworldly donor, I instantly knew the lyrics needed to be about witchcraft.

“Our bassist Vlad had recently learned a tale about an ancestor of his who was regarded as a ‘superwitch’ in her village and the townsfolk would go to her for healing with herbs and medicines. That was until fear and hatred gripped the people and they eventually turned against her, forming a mob to drive her from her home and execute her.

“This misidentification of a friend as a foe out of fear is something we still see prevalent today, and I wanted to channel her POV into the lyrics. They communicate her frustration and lament this misperception of her as an enemy instead of an ally, detailing how the most important thing in the world is being able to recognise who the real villain is. The song culminates in a final warning to the people who wronged her, the mortal folk who live in fear of losing their wealth and material goods when none of it will matter in the end: ‘It’s all about the coin you never thought that you would have to spend.’ That final coin being the price you pay with your life, at the inevitable end.”