Primitive Man are still the heaviest band on just about any given festival billing, they’re still ‘crushing’, and Observance is sure to flex the vocabularies of folk reaching for new ways to describe their punishing sound. Yet beyond the heft of their musical propulsion, they’ve got a few things they want to get off their chests this time around.

Observance is an indicator that Primitive Man are taking stock of who they are, where they find themselves today, and where they’re heading next. After twelve years at the forefront of underground music, Primitive Man takes merciless aim at the plentiful ills that besiege the music industry and the world around them, and in the process of doing so do not spare themselves from their flagellating tongue-lashings.

The album will be birthed into a very different musical landscape to the one that Primitive Man first emerged into; arguably worse in every conceivable way. The overwhelming sense of disillusionment is pervasive as vocalist and guitarist Ethan Lee McCarthy charts the complexities and toxicities that have dissolved his sense of wonder at living out his childhood dreams of being a musician. As Primitive Man move into a new era, they unshackled themselves from expectations and found themselves galvanised by the notion that they don’t belong to any particular scene or movement. Within this isolation comes a sense of freedom.

With motifs and symbols recurring throughout the lyrics and artwork (also created by McCarthy), and drawing influence from the work of Tongo Eisen-Martin - specifically Blood on the Fog - McCarthy doesn’t offer answers, he only seeks to share his experiences. Personal and professional pitfalls are explored against the backdrop of a broken social contract that is decimating the lives of working class citizens. While party politics dominate the media, a more insidious divide preoccupies McCarthy as he is haunted by technofeudalism and the future of social unrest. With human rights being eroded at every turn, the lives of regular, working class people are fair game for the wealthy few to capitalise upon. Less a rallying cry, more a howl of exasperation, McCarthy contemplates the futility of there being more of us than there are of them if we fail to to seize any control for ourselves.

Whilst McCarthy’s lyrics are a dominant presence throughout Observance, the six songs that make up the album are a truly collaborative effort written and arranged with absolute devotion. Drummer Joe Linden, bassist Jon Campos and McCarthy threw themselves into writing shortly after the release of 2022’s Insurmountable EP. Committing to the task at hand, the trio describe themselves as “obsessed” during the genesis of Observance; the intricacies of shaping their evolving, trance-inducing sound became all-consuming.

Utilising a greater sense of space than on previous records, Primitive Man have welcomed their psychedelic side to a greater degree than ever before. Acoustic interludes and electronic soundscapes are spaced out slivers that explode into a more prominent presence as Observance unfolds. With influences that span the gulf between Swans and Crowbar on one side, and Slowdive and U2 on the other, Primitive Man leant into embracing rock music in its many varied forms with each member’s varied inspirations becoming fully realised through the resulting songs. Recording and mixing took place in February and March 2025, at Bricktop Recording Studio, Chicago with producer Andy Nelson, before being mastered by Arthur Rizk.

Despite leaning into their more experimental side, Primitive Man maintain a tight grip on the heavy sound that has defined them for years. Observance is still a challenging record, demanding the listener’s attention at every turn. Whereas previous records have thrived in a roiling pool of anger, the sound of Observance is imbued with a new element - sadness. Yet McCarthy describes this as the most positive Primitive Man record to date; even as they pick over the carcass of disillusionment they still seek a way out, a path towards the light.