Employed to Serve Release Mosh-Intensive New Song ‘Exist’ + Announce ‘Conquering’ Album

U.K. metallic heavyweights Employed to Serve just dropped a juggernaut of a new song, “Exist,” which comes off their newly announced fourth album, Conquering.

While the band’s sound is very much rooted in hardcore and metal extremity, Employed to Serve’s songwriting has a slice of rock ‘n’ roll aesthetics, which, when combined with two-step riffs and knuckle-dragging mosh parts, makes for an intense and overwhelmingly fun song, which is exactly the case on “Exist.”

“Conquering is about rising above adversity and self-doubt. We’re really excited to share our latest album — I feel it’s our best work to date. We wanted to go a more metal orientated direction with this album and see how far we could push our musical capabilities,” began frontwoman Justine Jones.

“‘Exist’ is a song that celebrates the highs and lows of existing,” she said of the new track’s theme. “For this video, I really wanted to capture the excitement of being a pre-teen and discovering the absolute joy that is music. I loved the idea of getting into someone’s head at that time and them daydreaming about being onstage with the band you love, like we did when we were that age and recently in the past year when we couldn’t play shows!”

Jones continued, “It took six months of planning due to the pandemic and because we had to source someone who could create one-off figures of each band member. We were lucky enough to come across Mattachine Society from Brooklyn, who creates awesome bootlegs. For the model stage and backline, [guitarist] Sammy [Urwin] and I channeled our inner [British children’s TV show] Art Attack and made that during the winter lockdown to keep our minds from the apocalypse. When having meetings about how to dress the set and actors, we wanted to shout out as many of our mates’ bands as possible and leave little Easter eggs for people to find with each re-watch of the video.”

“The most important aspect of the video for me was finding a young energetic girl to play the really stoked kid,” she went on. “When I was growing up, metal was a very male-dominated genre and I always felt a bit out of place. I feel that this is a different story now with so many women in bands. Working in the industry and in the crowd, it’s becoming normalized, which is really exciting.”

Watch the music video for “Exist” and read the lyrics to the song below. Check further down to see the Conquering artwork and track listing  and pre-order the album, out on Spinefarm Records on Sept. 17, here.

• NEW MUSIC PLAYLIST: Keep up with each week’s new songs by following Loudwire’s ‘Weekly Wire’ Spotify playlist, featuring 50 tracks with updates each Friday afternoon.

Employed to Serve, “Exist” Lyrics

I’ll take it for what it is
‘Cause I will live
One way or another
I am the queen of my own domain
Always looking for that scape goat
I slaughtered it long ago
Painted myself in its blood
I’m becoming the excuse
So tired of it

This is hell
I’m living in
This is hell
Inside of me
I’ve created my own personal jail
My festering thoughts make it hard just to simply exist

See this for what it is
This is hell
I’ve been nailed to the floor
My doors been marked with a cross
Beat down what is positive
This is a one sided fight
Bleeding out, bleeding dry
I hold the key to control
It’s the only way

This is hell
I’m living in
This is hell
Inside of me
I’ve created my own personal jail
My festering thoughts make it hard to just simply exist

There’s no light on the other side
This is all there is
Will you take the beating? Will you submit?
My answer every time…NO

See this for what it is
This is hell

Employed to Serve, “Exist” Music Video

Employed to Serve, Conquering Album Art + Track Listing

01. “Universal Chokehold”
02. “Exist”
03. “Twist the Blade”
04. “Sun Up to Sun Down”
05. “The Mistake”
06. “We Don’t Need You”
07. “Set in Stone”
08. “Mark of the Grave”
09. “World Ender”
10. “Conquering”
11. “Stand Alone”