Earlier this year, you might recall that I wrote about Los Angeles, CA-based thrash punk trio Zig Zags and the first two singles off their latest effort Running Out of Red, “The Sadist” and “Giving Up The Ghost.” Both singles helped to further cement the Southern California-based trio’s reputation for a blistering, no-bulltshit thrash metal/thrash punk that sonically owes a major debt to Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden and others, as the trio pair face-melting, power chords, propulsive drumming, shouted vocals and rousingly anthemic hooks. Running Out of Red‘s third and latest single “They Came For Us” continue on the same vein as its preceding two singles — enormous, face-melting power chords, thundering drumming and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with lyrics that focus on horror movie themes. And every time I’ve heard this song, I can envision the metalheads at Clem’s, (un-iroinically) headbanging and shouting along with upraised beers and fists.
The recently released music video employs the use of suicidal cult imagery — and in some way, it reveals the dangers of blind obedience and conformity, while also pointing at the lunacy of following an ignorant, narcissistic, power hungry, greedy, authoritarian blowhard like Donald Trump.