PRONG To Celebrate 31st Anniversary Of 'Cleansing' On Summer 2025 European Tour

PRONG will celebrate the 31st anniversary of its album "Cleansing" with a limited series of intimate dates, as well as festival shows, in July and August 2025 in Europe.

The dates are as follows:

July 30 - Hamburg, Germany - Bahnhof Pauli
July 31 - Wacken, Germany - Wacken Open Air
August 01 - Berlin, Germany - Hole 44
August 02 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos-Saal
August 03 - Stuttgart, Germany - Im Wizemann
August 05 - Aarburg, Switzerland - Musigburg
August 06 - München, Germany - Strom
August 07 - Nürnberg, Germany - Hirsch
August 08 - Josefov, Czech Republic - Brutal Assault Festival
August 10 - Kortrijk, Belgium - Alcatraz Metal Festival
August 12 - Essen, Germany - Turock
August 13 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Dynamo
August 14 - Leeuwarden, Netherlands - Neushoorn
August 15 - Sulingen, Germany - Reload Festival
August 16 - Taarstedt, Germany - Angeliter Open Air

Asked by Metal Insider if he had any fond memories of making "Cleansing", PRONG frontman Tommy Victor said: "Yeah, in the studio, there's a lot of fond memories. The preparation for it and the chaos that consumed the whole pre-production period, and I've been through it so many times in my career. Member changes, namely Troy Gregory leaving, and again the bulk of the work being thrown on me to solve all these problems while handling the business and personal matters. I remember that being extremely stressful. I think it catered to the inevitable/possible disappointment with 'Rude Awakening', and I just remembered how much work and how much sacrifices I had to make in order for those records to come into fruition. But the process was great. I mean, working with Terry Date was always a pleasure, more so on 'Cleansing'. I got to mix a record with him at Electric Lady Studios in New York, which is an experience I will never forget. We had a lot of fun with the guitar tracks, and again with PRONG, it wound up being a solitary experience. That's just the way it is. I mean, people tend to think a lot of times that when you're making records, and I guess if you're a rap artist this may not apply, you're surrounded by this posse and everyone's partying, you're in the studio listening to the same track over and over again, bringing your buddies in to hear stuff, like as if that was the '90s. It wasn't like that for PRONG at all. I was in the studio all day long with Terry, making decisions, laying guitar tracks on it, vocals, and the traveling. At that point, the budget was enough where we did sessions in multiple places. Then when you finish the mixes, there's always the mastering problem. That record was mastered four times before we settled on the brilliant mastering that we inevitably had. So, I mean, it's a great-sounding record. There is an amazing magic to that record, and a lot of that record came together by accident. It was just one of those great moments in my life."

PRONG's thirteenth studio album, "State Of Emergency", came out in October 2023 via Steamhammer/SPV.

Victor outlined the stylistic direction of the eleven songs that make up "State Of Emergency": "It's a very PRONG record. I think it's totally genre-transcending and definitely ignores what's going on out there these days."

Commenting on his artistic approach, he said: "I like all kinds of music. This record totally reflects that because it covers lots of different angles. At the same time, 'State Of Emergency' is very guitar-oriented and a typical example of my style.'"

Produced by the skillful hands of legendary producer Steve Evetts (SEPULTURA, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN),"State Of Emergency" surprises on the post-punk track "Disconnected" and then grooves on the title track. Originally released as a standalone single in early 2023, "Breaking Point" takes no prisoners with honest lyrics and cutting attitude, while hard-hitting "The Descent" is a lightning quick, classic ripper.

"Back (NYC)" has Victor saying: "To me it's as if Jimmy Page wrote a song playing through Dimebag's amplifier, with Henry Rollins singing. Kind of a weird experiment, for sure!"

The album closes with a cover of "Working Man", originally written and recorded by the legendary RUSH.

"RUSH was the first power trio I ever saw live and I was blown away by them," Tommy said. "'Working Man' is so simple and it's so heavy. I also love the lyric. I thought it would be great tuned down a bit and slowed down, and I think we nailed it."