Pre-Order: Prong - Prong [CD]

In their nearly four decades of domination, New York alternative metal legends PRONG, have remained a respected force in the scene, gigging doggedly around the world—becoming mainstays at seminal festivals like Wacken and Brutal Assault—and unleashing a steady stream of classic albums dominating TV, radio, and streaming throughout their tenure. Today, they announce their incendiary Napalm Records debut and mission statement, Prong, which will be unleashed unto the public on November 6, 2026. Honoring the band’s legacy, this new album packs 11 galvanizing haymakers, encompassing elements of industrial, thrash, alternative rock, and, of course, New York Hardcore. 

About the album, frontman Tommy Victor said:

“This could be the best PRONG album to date. It’s definitely the best sounding PRONG album ever, with the incredible Andy Sneap mixing and mastering it! This record represents a new lease on life for PRONG with a new label, a fresh attitude with faster and heavier songs, bigger hooks and top-notch sound quality. That’s why it’s self-titled; it’s a redefining episode for PRONG!”

Of the plethora of legends born from the primordial ooze bubbling at New York’s most iconic punk club, CBGBs, there is only one PRONG. Forming during the venue’s late 80s renaissance period alongside hardcore legends like Gorilla Biscuits, Madball, Sick Of It All, and Biohazard, PRONG set themselves apart with melodic sensibility on formative records like Beg To Differ (1990) and Cleansing (1994), becoming mainstays on the iconic MTV’s “Headbangers Ball”. With their boundary pushing fusion of classic New York Hardcore, infectious grooves, and industrial textures PRONG laid the foundation for numerous styles of post-hardcore like groove metal, industrial metal, and crossover thrash. 

As the band’s mission statement, Prong incorporates the well of styles their legacy is built on. Blistering thrash sections, open into lush choruses on opening anthem “The Banner”, before somehow pushing the intensity even further on “New Commission”. “The Uprising” reintroduces the band’s industrial edge, weaponizing textured synths over a pulsating two-step, before “Uncertain Truth” flexes its melodic chops, offering a transcendently sweet hook. Immediately the band dropkicks listeners in the chest with the pummeling “Fear The Sun” inciting classic New York Hardcore pit violence. Iconic vocalist and guitarist Tommy Victor’s chops come out in full swing on “Proportionate Response”, a smoldering incitement of retaliatory justice, before the blistering kicks of “Simulated Drowning” propel us forward. Album closer “Our Continuance" brings things to a cataclysmic close with its menacingly methodical pulse and pummelingly discordant breakdowns, tied together with a lush chorus amplified with swelling synth textures.

With Andy Sneap at Backstage Studios for mixing and mastering, the album sounds crisp and punchy, Victor’s biting lyrics confrontational and infiltrating, driving listeners to contemplate complex matters like the validity of truth, self-inhibitors, and altruism. Dynamically bold, ideologically driven, and melodically infectious, Prong honors their legacy, reminding us why the band has had such a successful longevity.