{"id":20995,"date":"2026-06-23T09:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=20995"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:15:21","slug":"wailin-storms-stoke-dread-on-surreal-new-single-dead-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=20995","title":{"rendered":"Wailin Storms Stoke Dread on Surreal New Single &#8220;Dead End&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20996\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4992843581130422;width:611px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-1-930x620.jpg 930w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Photo by Kent Corley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recipients of high praise from NPR, The Needle Drop, Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel and Metal Hammer,&nbsp;<strong>Wailin Storms<\/strong>&nbsp;have caught fire since migrating to North Carolina in 2014. Now, the Durham natives are fanning the flames even higher with their upcoming fifth album and first for Season of Mist. On&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist,&nbsp;<\/em>the band deliver a fiery baptism of Southern gothic rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Wailin Storms are premiering a suspenseful music video for the third and final advanced single from&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist<\/em>&nbsp;with Treble. With the ghost of David Lynch riding passenger seat, \u201cDead End\u201d takes a harrowing post-punk turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>\u2018Dead End\u2019 is about seeing yourself after you die\u201d, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says. \u201cIt\u2019s the first song on&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist<\/em>&nbsp;and one of the first that was written for the album. It flowed out of me while I was messing around with my Strymon El Capistan guitar pedal. It sets the tone by jolting you straight into a fever dream that\u2019s filled with cryptic messages from beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"nv-iframe-embed\"><iframe title=\"Wailin Storms - Dead End (Official Video)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8i0Prohjmlw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>\u201cIf Bauhaus, Killing Joke and Black Sabbath had a child, this would be it\u201d &#8211;&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/season-of-mist.us3.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=e193a85c214ac2a879022c84d&amp;id=a1fca84554&amp;e=6ecf34a788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Metal Injection<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wailin Storms are igniting the stage this summer with a headline U.S. tour. The band will perform \u201cDead End\u201d and other songs off&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist<\/em>&nbsp;for the first time, along with crowd favorites from across their critically-acclaimed discography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wailin Storms 2026&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>The Arsonist&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em><strong>U.S. Tour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>July 17 &#8211; Durham, NC @ Stanczyk\u2019s [Album Release Show]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>July 29 &#8211; Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>July 30 &#8211; Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>July 31 &#8211; Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 1 &#8211; Cincinnati, OH @ Motr&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 2 &#8211; Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 3 &#8211; Columbus, OH @ Dirty Dungarees&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 4 &#8211; Pittsburgh, PA @ The Government Center&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 5 &#8211; Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 6 &#8211; Brooklyn, NY @ The Gutter&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 7 &#8211; New Hope, PA @ John and Peter\u2019s&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 8 &#8211; Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Arsonist<\/em>&nbsp;calls back to Wailin Storms\u2019 past. Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band\u2019s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk. Like a truck leaving the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, \u201cDead End\u201d swerves behind bone-rattling drums and noisy scrapes of guitar. \u201cSo much music is drowning in sterile digital production\u201d, Storms says. \u201cWith this album, we recorded everything in analog. We didn\u2019t touch a computer until mixing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by Lynch and&nbsp;Ren\u00e9 Magritte,&nbsp;Wailin Storms throw heavier splashes of surrealism into the fires of&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist<\/em>. \u201cDead End\u201d begins innocently enough &#8211; that is, until the nightmare takes hold. \u201c<em>Calm night, birds keep plucking out our eyes<\/em>\u201d, Storms sings as if lulled into a trance by the heavy swings of bass. The video stages a crime that would thrill Hollywood\u2019s dark heart, but the album is inflamed by real-life anxieties. Seas rise; cars go screaming through the night, though already, on its opening track, the band warn that it\u2019s too late. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>Don\u2019t save me<\/em>\u201d. With one more punch of the gas, \u201cDead End\u201d bursts into flame. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated with fire\u201d, says Storms,&nbsp;who was raised by a church pianist and a Baptist preacher. As a child, growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family\u2019s house down.&nbsp;\u201cIt speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The video for \u201cDead End\u201d was directed, filmed and edited by Wailin Storms.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since migrating to North Carolina\u2019s inland coast circa 2014, Wailin Storms have caught fire with noisy, bluesy explosions of Southern gothic rock. Hot on the heels of critical high praise and thunderous applause from crowds on both sides of the Atlantic, the band\u2019s fifth album and first for Season of Mist fans their flames with reckless abandon. While surrounded by darkness from the outside world,&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist&nbsp;<\/em>burns with all of our heart\u2019s desires. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated by fire\u201d, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says before alluding to a time when he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family\u2019s house down. \u201cIt speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born the son of a church pianist and Baptist preacher, Justin Storms converted to the church of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll after listening to the teachings of his older brother. \u201cHe was responsible for getting me into outsider music\u201d. After forming Wailin Storms in his home state of Texas and a pass through New York City, Storms hunkered down in Durham, North Carolina, where he was joined in 2014 by the band\u2019s current drummer Mark Oates (Bats &amp; Mice) and bassist Steve Stanczyk. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Debut full-length&nbsp;One Foot in the Flesh Grave&nbsp;laid a solid foundation for Wailin Storms in 2015 with an East Coast and Midwest tour that led to their first appearance at The Fest. 2017 follow-up&nbsp;Sick City&nbsp;infected more ears with coverage spreading from&nbsp;CVLT Nation&nbsp;to&nbsp;NPR. It was their third album, though, that really opened the floodgates.&nbsp;Rattle&nbsp;was featured by&nbsp;The Needle Drop&nbsp;and named one of the best albums of 2020 by&nbsp;Treble,&nbsp;Riff Magazine,&nbsp;Angry Metal Guy&nbsp;and&nbsp;Machine Music. More attention from&nbsp;Decibel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Metal Hammer&nbsp;came two years later around&nbsp;The Silver Snake Unfolds,&nbsp;which was followed by the arrival of guitarist Ben Melton, as well as shows and tour dates with everyone from City of Caterpillar, pageninetynine and This Will Destroy You to Acid Bath, Eyehategod and Young Widows. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Arsonist<\/em>&nbsp;can be traced back through Wailin Storms\u2019 past. &nbsp;Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band\u2019s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk as a heated response to today\u2019s vat of overproduced music and AI slop. By experimenting with swoons of Rhodes organ, \u201cHeart of Mine\u201d recalls the Roadhouse from Twin Peaks. \u201cSome of these songs are more primitive and stripped down, harkening back to the four-track recordings that the band started with\u201d, Storms says. \u201cThe recordings contain flaws but remain human in all the right ways. They could be a murder ballad or an old folk song that\u2019s sung around the campfire\u201d. Other early influences soak into the songwriting\u2019s weathered fabric: Flannery O\u2019Conner\u2019s grotesque sensibility, Cormac McCarthy\u2019s unflinching fatalism, Old Regular Baptist hymns. With its sideways gust of riffs and moaning chorus, \u201cThe Wind\u201d blows loud enough to wake the entire cemetery. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>Because the heart wants what the body wants and the mind wants what the eyes want<\/em>\u201d, Storms gravely intones. \u201c<em>Won\u2019t you take me through hell<\/em>\u201d. &nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wailin Storms throw heavy splashes of surrealism into the fires of&nbsp;<em>The Arsonist<\/em>. \u201cMany of the lyrics draw from the same imagery and emotions conjured by David Lynch, especially his film&nbsp;<em>Wild at Heart<\/em>\u201d,<em>&nbsp;<\/em>Storms says<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Kent Corley Recipients of high praise from NPR, The Needle Drop, Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel and Metal Hammer,&nbsp;Wailin Storms&nbsp;have caught fire since migrating to North Carolina in 2014. Now, the Durham natives are fanning the flames even higher with their upcoming fifth album and first for Season of Mist. On&nbsp;The Arsonist,&nbsp;the band deliver a&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=20995\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wailin Storms Stoke Dread on Surreal New Single &#8220;Dead End&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20998,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20995\/revisions\/20998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}