Today Portsmouth quintet Prolong The Agony release their latest EP, ‘All We Are’, five-tracks of emotional metalcore/hardcore that resonate in positivity. Without a doubt Prolong The Agony succeed in producing an engaging collection of songs that covered in sharp guitars and aggressive vocals.
Since having their fare share of ups and downs since forming in 2009, ‘All We Are’ sees a reinvigorated PTA with a purpose and with a message. Although it covers a variety of bleak topics; depression, daily frustrations, and the death of close family members, the outcome sees PTA overcome these on ‘All We Are’.
To find out about the EP, Already Heard recently spoke to vocalist Larry Welling from Prolong The Agony who gave us a detailed account of what ‘All We Are’ is all about.
Dead Dreams
This song was written with the intention of showing Prolong The Agony’s angrier side. With a crushing intro, into the dominant groove afterwards this song took shape right off the bat. Lyrically ‘Dead Dreams’ is about living with depression and understanding that no matter how hard you try, you will not see or feel things the way others do. You work yourself “to the bone” to fight it and dream of another life, but it’s ok to feel like this.
Counting The Days
In the initial stages of writing ‘Counting The Days’, we had a vision of a fast paced, hard-hitting track with plenty of energy that also blends with big melodic choruses. And that’s exactly what we did. Lyrically ‘Counting The Days’ is about frustration with life, questioning important choices and making peace with them. There is a determination to turn your sacrifices into something meaningful and use them to make a mark.
Loved and Lost
The beginning clean section was a last minute decision and very fresh for us. Not writing many clean guitar sections in previous records we felt this song needed a calm simplistic intro to bring in the chorus. Lyrically ‘Loved & Lost’ is about the death of my grandmother and how it’s important to treasure these people while you can. There is also a theme of making the most of the time given, not dwelling on negative influences and seeing the brighter picture.
Backstabbers
This song was written at a time when we were all experiencing hard times with people and betrayal. This song was actually manipulated a few times before the final product. The chorus changed a few times, the intro was completely different and a lot of the structure was shuffled to create a perfect flow. Lyrically ‘Backstabbers’ is about typically facing up to everyone who puts you down, bullies, shit talkers, everyone under the banner of a backstabber.
Loveless
‘Loveless’ was a turning point for Prolong The Agony. It symbolised the start of a new era, introducing Lawrence on main vocals. We wanted to go for a more abrasive evil sound. This chorus has very strong chord changes, which opened up perfect opportunities for an accompanying lead line behind it. Nothing original here, but it’s how we do it. We feel the ending fits the song exactly how we envisioned and definitely gets the audience moving.
‘All We Are’ EP by Prolong The Agony is out now on In At The Deep End Records.