Experimental prog-rock/metal group, In The Presence Of Wolves, will release of their new EP, Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape And The Cage, this Friday, June 30th. The EP is available for pre-order now via Bandcamp. The new track, “White Noise”, is available for streaming below.

Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape And The Cage is a two-in-one part EP in an eventual multi-release story that explores ITPOW's personal confrontations with mental illness, emotional struggle and the five stages of grief. The EP tells the story of twin brothers, one with paranoid schizophrenia and one without. The sane brother deals with the first two stages of grief as he investigates the reasons behind his twin taking his own life.

Vocalist/bassist Vini Stamato explains that "White Noise" is one of the more important tracks in relation to the concept of Of Two Minds...: "Conceptually, this is the last track that represents our main character's denial stage of grief and in reality, this marks a major change in the ITPOW song writing style. When we started writing this album, we knew that we wanted to focus more on the song writing aspect of our music and not just how many technical curveballs we could throw at our listeners. This track was delicate from the beginning. Opening the track with a common time signature allowed us to focus more on melody but it also presented us with more of a challenge in regards to selecting the perfect melody for the song itself. Writing the non-instrumental passages for this track was like walking on egg shells.

“Fortunately, the majority of the song came together when I was home sick from work for a few days. In those few days, most of the vocal melodies were finalized and also the majority of the middle instrumental section was constructed. One of the parts that we had the most fun writing for this track was the outro. That was pretty much a straight, solid hour of Chris and I hashing out the entire section step by step and seeing what pieces fit where. We were extremely surprised to find how well this section translates live. When we get to this part in our set, the entire room goes silent as we play. We were floored the first time this happened. I remember thinking to myself, 'oh wow. I think we created a moment'."

At the helm on Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape And The Cage was producer Kevin Antreassian of Backroom Studios, otherwise recognized as guitarist for kings of metallic chaos, Dillinger Escape Plan. The album was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music.

Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape And The Cage tracklisting:

“As We Speak Pt. 1”
“The One Who Fell To Earth”
“White Noise”
“The Ape And The Cage”
“M.U.A. (Manipulation Under Anesthesia)”

“White Noise”:

"The One Who Fell To Earth”:

"The One Who Fell to Earth" guitar playthrough: