Lillian Axe guitarist Steve Blaze is featured as lead vocalist on the new Waste Down Rebels album, Mercies And Curses. The record will be released on April 21 in the UK and Europe, and on April 28 in the US. First single and lyric video for “Slave The Day” is available below.

Blaze had the following comments on the song:

"‘Slave The Day’ is the final scream of reaching the tipping point in dealing with the path of our society. There is only so much that a person can observe and deal with until it is obvious that stupidity is becoming the norm. This is a rallying cry to all those who are tired of the path this world has taken."

Guitarist Rick Ayers also offered...

"‘Slave The Day’ was the 12th song I wrote which came together musically in a relative short amount of time.  The song starts with a powerful riff and gets directly into Steve's vocal. 

There are numerous layers of guitars - about 25 tracks in total as tracks were doubled and some quadrupled to give on overall thick feel."

The writing process for Mercies And Curses began in early months of 2020. The owner, guitarist and songwriter of Waste Down Rebels, Rick Ayers, had the music for a few complete tracks demo’d and reached out to Steve Blaze from Lillian Axe to see if he would be interested in tracking vocals and writing lyrics.

Ayers: "Listening to the first track Steve wrote for the album, I instantly knew this was the direction I wanted to go for a complete collection that became 12 tracks. During the writing process, I had the opportunity to work closely with the musician known as Virus from the band Dope. Virus played a key role in my song writing for numerous tracks that are on the album."

By the end of 2020, the album was complete. Blaze wrote the lyrics and performed all lead vocals on the album... he didn't touch a guitar for once.

Tracklist:

"Let My People Go"
"The Fork In Your Tongue"
"Mercies And Curses"
"Seasons"
"Slave The Day"
"Fraction Of The Hole"
"Black Hearted Drum"
"One Minute Closer"
"The Day We Take Our Own"
"Solitude"
"Set My Sights On You"
"Everybody Wants It All"

"Slave The Day" lyric video:

The first very limited 100 copies of Mercies And Curses comes with a signed card autographed by Blaze and WDR guitarist Rick Ayers. Details and available here.

The album is available for pre-order here.