Over the last few years, the underground heavy music scene in the UK has felt a resurgence. Not that it ever really went away in the first place, but the quality of bands creating vehement, aggressive music has never been better. Among those bands are Employed To Serve, whose steady trajectory has lead them to the impending release of their second album, ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’.

“I’m really excited about the way things are going for the UK scene right now,” beams Employed To Serve vocalist, Justine Jones. “It’s great that such a small island has such a creative output, and we have so many good festivals. It’s thriving right now and I’m glad that we are a part of it.”

While they may have just been part of it for the past four years, ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’ places them firmly among the top of the pile. It is a dynamic record, filled with aggression and brutality, yet with a unique uplifting quality. There’s hope and positivity buried among the low-end riffs and frenetic blasts beats.

“The feedback we’ve had from the songs people have heard has been awesome, although it’s quite funny when I’ve seen people say that we aren’t mathcore anymore,” laughs Jones. “I just say to myself, ‘wait until you hear the rest of the album’. I guess it’s a heavy metal record. Its got some blasts, its got some groove, but there’s still softer moments.”

On their debut album, ‘Greyer Than You Remember’, Employed To Serve began to dip their toes into metallic waters. But now, with ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’, it’s clear just how heavy they can truly sound. Jones admits that “it’s different, but it’s still us,” and that they were very conscious of not repeating themselves this time around. “As much as we love [‘Greyer Than You Remember’] we’ve done that, and its time to move on. We didn’t have sound in mind as such, but the progression has been very natural.”

The band returned once again to producer Lewis Johns for ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’. After recording with him before it was familiar territory for Employed To Serve, but with age comes not only experience, but also confidence. “It was definitely a lot smoother this time around,” reflects Jones. “We’ve become familiar with being in a studio and are a lot more adult about it now. No one got red light syndrome, and we knew exactly what we wanted.”

Thematically, ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’ is very fitting to the time we currently live in. Not because it’s a battle cry against conformity or politically driven as such, but addresses something that is all too common these days. “We were just getting tired of people griping about their inadequacies but not doing anything about it, sitting around and moaning,” explains Jones, delving further into the topics on the album.

“The title itself addresses the bittersweet feeling of all good things can come to an end, so you should enjoy it while it lasts,” she continues, with the hope that Employed To Serve can inspire listeners to go out and do something. “Youth, good experiences, touring, even being in a band doesn’t always last forever. Obviously we want to do this for as long as we can and keep putting out albums, but if it all ends tomorrow, we know we’ve had the best time doing it.”

Each track on the album flows seamlessly into one another with very little respite. While there are breaks for hypnotic melodic sections, particularly the closing track, ‘Apple Tree’, it is built around solid guitar work, and a towering, visceral vocal delivery. “I think ‘Never Falls Far’ is a personal favourite, as it’s quite a fast track,” admits Jones, going on to say that lead single, ‘I Spend My Days (Wishing Them Away)’ provides “a good idea of what the band is all about” on this record.

“We are definitely a lot more focused now that we are older,” continues Jones, explaining how the band has grown over the last few years. “We are more interested in being tight live, and pushing ourselves much harder. We have tried to develop our playing and practiced different techniques, musically and vocally.”

Employed To Serve are also at a very stable point in their personal lives, and affords them a certain degree of freedom that few points can enjoy so early on. “We are lucky that our careers and lives are much more favourable to the band now,” continues Jones. “After four years of doing this, it’s gratifying to be in a position where we can tour around our jobs. We don’t have kids, we don’t have mortgages, and very free to do what we want.”

With more touring, more festivals and a fruitful UK scene around them, Employed To Serve have their eyes firmly fixed on the future, with no sign of slowing down. “We already have riff’s and ideas for our third record,” laughs Jones as we wrap up. “We just want to keep touring, keep writing, and to stay a part of the growing scene.”

‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’ is released on May 19th via Holy Roar Records, and is available to pre-order now.

Employed To Serve also have a number of shows coming up, which you can see the dates for below.

APRIL
26 CORK, IRE The Poor Relation*
27 GALWAY, IRE Roisin Dubh*
28 DUBLIN, IRE On The Box*
29 BELFAST Voodoo*
30 DEAL Astor Theatre w/ Palm Reader

MAY
19 LONDON Old Blue Last w/ Eulogy + Conjurer
20 BRIGHTON The Great Escape Festival

JULY
07 CHELTENHAM 2000 Trees Festival

AUGUST
19 BRISTOL ArcTanGent Festival

* w/ Heck