FFO: Giant Walker – Past The Peak

Giant Walker are a heavy prog-rock band based in Newcastle who have just dropped their third single, Past Their Peak. Written during lockdown last year, the track looks at themes of self isolation and loneliness and features some ominously tender verses that contrast effectively with the crunchy and aggressive chorus blasts. The intense ending notches things up further to make for a powerful, yet interesting listen. 

Here the band try and encapsulate Past The Peak’s sound using three songs…

Prayers / Triangles – Deftones
We took massive inspiration from this song; we’re big fans of the ethereal texture that it has and we’ve always wanted to have a song that encapsulated that vibe. This informed a lot of the sound choices we made when recording Past The Peak, as we wanted to make everything sound otherworldly and epic, as well as dark and brooding.

Better Living Through Chemistry – Queens of the Stone Age
In this song, Homme explores social commentaries of the abuse of medication, whether prescribed or not, and our society’s dependence on it.  Although, sonically there’s probably not a ton of similarities between this song and ours, the lyrical concept was one of the initial inspirations for ‘Past the Peak’. 

Shadow on the Sun – Audioslave
The epic and brutal climax of Shadow on the Sun was a big inspiration for Past The Peak, as we wanted the song to go on a journey, and not just sit on one groove/feel throughout.  The bass part is also heavily informed by this song, incorporating a lot of the same phrasing and articulations that Tim Commerford uses in Shadow on the Sun.