TOMMY VICTOR On PRONG's New Self-Titled Album: 'There's A Little Bit More Rejuvenation In The Sound Of The Band'

In a new interview with Cassidy of the WSOU 89.5 FM radio station, PRONG guitarist/vocalist Tommy Victor spoke about the band's upcoming self-titled album, due on November 6 via Napalm Records. Regarding why he decided to make the new LP a self-titled affair, Tommy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Because of Napalm Records, finally being on a new label. We've been on this other label, Steamhammer, for so many years, and I don't think anybody knows that we were putting records out, to be honest with you. It seemed like, 'Oh, you guys are still around?' 'Yeah, we just put out an album,' blah, blah, blah. So Napalm's a bigger label. And then there's — I don't know — a little bit more rejuvenation in the sound of the band. You guys [at WSOU] played 'The Banner', the first single. It's a little different. I mean, it's New York hardcore thrash, crossover, industrial metal, but a little more song-oriented, some of the songs. And then it's a heavier record, it's faster, and I just thought that the band sounds a little more modern now or something. And then a new label. And we've been so active, touring a lot. I just feel it's like a new renaissance of PRONG."

Asked if the recent lineup changes in the band affected the writing process for "Prong", Tommy said: "It affects it a little bit. I primarily do the writing. I just have a lot of lyrics that I'm constantly writing, so when it goes into putting the songs together, it's pretty fast. I'll go, 'Oh, well, this lyric, what am I gonna do with this?' And we just match riffs and ideas with it. So this one was real fast. We played Dingbatz [in Clifton, New Jersey in January 2026], and I realized that we didn't have enough time to finish the record — I mean, enough time on the record — so I wrote a song backstage at Dingbatz right before we went in and recorded, and that took three minutes to write it. Some songs take a really long time. There's a song, 'The Uprising', on the new record. I had this one riff, and it took months to finally get the whole song put together. And then other ones, it takes a couple of minutes. So, that's the way it is. It's like there's no real formula. There's a new song called 'Fear The Sun' that I think is gonna be the second single, and that one I had the lyric. And I was, like, 'Well, what am I gonna do? What kind of motif on the song am I gonna have?' And my son kept playing a bunch of new metal playlists, so I'm, like, 'Yeah, a lot of these bands sound like PRONG.' So I was, like, 'Let's maybe do something like that,' with a traditional song structure. And this one sounds pretty heavy, but it sounds like a real rock and roll song. So, that's the next one coming out. So there's different instances. But a lot of the... Like, 'The Banner' came from a lyric and the matching riffs that, actually, Tyler [Joseph], the drummer, wrote. So, yeah, man. There's all different kinds of things going on."

Regarding the musical direction of the new PRONG album, Tommy said: "It's different. There's faster songs. There's this song that's gonna be the first single before the record's released, and it's called 'New Commission'. And that one, I wrote that based on just a really fast loop that I made. So I just went in and wrote a bunch of riffs on top of something really fast. So I think that we upped the dose with speed on this record. And then there's some really dark moments… My wife was saying, 'Oh, yeah, it sounds like there's some goth stuff going on.' I'm, like, 'Yeah, actually, it is.' Like the song that I wrote backstage at Dingbatz, in the house in the back there, it's sort of like a gothy, it's almost like a TYPE O [NEGATIVE] type of vibe. A TYPE O-meets-KILLING JOKE type of thing. So, it's slower. There's just a lot of monster riffs. It's a little bit heavier and more intense, this record. And it sounds better. We got Andy Sneap [mixing and mastering]... I mean, [Steve] Evetts had been producing a lot of PRONG records, and he's amazing. Andy Sneap upped the dose with the mix on this one. It sounds really killer. So, Evetts, we love you, and you did a great job. But I had to do it local [in Long Island, New York], 'cause I have two kids and I had to do in a local studio out on the Island. So I was doing, like, a 9 to 2 every day for a couple of weeks. 9 to 5 for a couple of weeks, then 9 to 2 for another couple of weeks. So I had to go pick up the kids and do the whole family thing, so I just worked during the day. And then when we came to mixing, we were, like, 'Ah, we gotta bring it to somebody else.' So Andy mixed the album, so it sounds killer, and mastered it. He's a guitar player. He plays in JUDAS PRIEST and won a couple of Grammys with DREAM THEATER and produced a bunch of amazing records and... So we have a Grammy-winning engineer mastering and mixing our new PRONG record, which is a new thing as well."

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 1980s 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 pummeling 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.

"Prong" track listing:

01. The Banner
02. New Commission
03. The Uprising
04. Uncertain Truth
05. Fear The Sun
06. Commonsense Resolution
07. Doomed World
08. Proportionate Response
09. Transgression
10. Simulated Drowning
11. Our Continuance
12. Out Of Body (bonus track)
13. Cruel Summer (bonus track)

The album will come in a myriad of formats, including a Black LP, Inkspot Cristallo/Red LP, White Label LP, digital album and a CD which will come with two bonus tracks, "Out Of Body" and "Cruel Summer", the latter of which a cover of the BANANARAMA classic. Additionally there will be two cap bundles — one for the CD and one for the LP.

PRONG released a new live album, "Live And Uncleansed", on March 6 via SPV/Steamhammer. Recorded over seven nights in July and August 2025, the LP saw Victor and bandmates Christopher Dean (bass) and Tyler Joseph (drums) deliver eleven powerful live songs (plus three live bonus tracks),all pure and unadulterated, authentic and honest.

PRONG's new partnership with Napalm Records was announced in June 2025. It came on the heels of the band's European headline tour celebrating 31 years of their aforementioned 1994 album "Cleansing".

PRONG's latest album, "State Of Emergency", came out in October 2023 via Steamhammer/SPV. The LP was helmed by producer Steve Evetts (SEPULTURA, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) and included a cover of "Working Man", originally written and recorded by the legendary RUSH.

PRONG is:

Tommy Victor - Guitars, Vocals
Tyler Joseph - Drums
Christopher Dean - Bass