BW&BK; has received the following press release:

Philadelphia's A LIFE ONCE LOST has completed work on its new album, entitled Iron Gag.

Set for a September 18th release through Ferret Music, Iron Gag is a strong record by a band nearing an ideal of cohesion. ALOL's ever-catchy, artful assault remains, but the mood is electric, with tracks such as 'Firewater Joyride' revealing the sound of a band that's on the threshold of a much broader audience. Known for flattening clubs with its firepower, ALOL have captured the intensity of its live show on the forthcoming release, the ever-mutating quintet merging continued artistic growth with an intense, wizened roar. The album was self-produced by the band and mastered at West Side Music by the venerable Alan Douches.

The follow-up to 2005's Hunter, Iron Gag delivers a massive wallop of scorched-out, supercharged hard rock. Supremely well-paced, the release exhibits the sound of a band injecting a brazen swagger into its wide musical palette. The music dovetails its blend of raw-power metal and fuzz-tripping rock, combining each in various permutations: the rock coming to the forefront in the songs 'Firewater Joyride' and the crunching 'Detest'; the more deliberate side of the band emerging in the bruising 'Worship' and the snide, slow-boil of 'The Wanderer'. Like a shark, this band can only go forwards and the deeper reaches of Iron Gag are very clearly the sound of A Life Once Lost finding new waters in which to hunt.

A sneak peak at what Iron Gag holds in store for its listener is now available as the new track 'Firewater Joyride' has been posted online at this location.

"Today we bestow upon you the future classic known only as 'Firewater Joyride'," comments ALOL guitarist Doug "Snake Sustain" Sabolick. "Since we are known mostly for the ultra heavy, we figure we'd throw out a curve ball and release a f*ckin' rocker. It's time for the real motherf**kers to take the reins".

"There's a lot of things I wanted to say to a lot of people on this record," ALOL frontman Bob Meadows explains. "Even within a song, there could be two or three people I'm talking about. It was inspired by a lot of things I've wanted to say but haven't because I had to watch myself. There are so many ugly things going on in the music scene and life, and I was just like, 'F--- it, if I say something that's going to piss someone off, then it wasn't meant to be anyway. Let me just get this all off my chest.' So, this album's just really pissed, and it's very vicious."
"The songs are just way more fierce," he continues. "There's an element about it that Hunter didn't have, and I think maybe that was because of us doing it ourselves. It was us learning from (Hunter producer and ANTHRAX guitarist) Rob Caggiano how to actually approach the songs and my working with (LAMB OF GOD's) Randy Blythe on the vocal production, which taught me how to approach the songs well. And with all of that working together, we've definitely put out a record that's going to move a lot of heads — make people turn around and be like, 'Holy sh--.' It's a monster of a release."

The final tracklisting for Iron Gag is as follows: 'Firewater Joyride', 'Detest', 'The Wanderer', 'Worship', 'All Teeth', 'Meth Mouth', 'Masks', 'Pigeonholed', 'Others Die', 'Silence' and 'Ill Will'.

ALOL will hit the road this August in support of Iron Gag, touring as direct support to fast-rising metal unit JOB FOR A COWBOY with further touring plans to be announced soon. A full listing of upcoming ALOL tour dates is listed below.

June

30 - Covington, KY - The Madison Theater

July

8 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero Theater

August

13 - Troy, NY - Revolution Hall
15 - Huntington, WVA - The Monkey Bar
16 - Thomasville, NC - The Soundvent
17 - Nashville, TN - Rocket Town
18 - Augusta, GA - Sector 7G
22 - Memphis, TN - The Complex
23 - Little Rock, AR - Vino's
25 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Conservatory
27 - El Paso, TX - Chic's
28 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad