Genre defying Irish musician Rocstrong is releasing this new EP, All On Black, on Monday December 3rd via West One Music Group. The All On Black EP is produced by Rocstrong, Marcin Ciszczon and Keith O’Reilly, and collectively focuses around the power of money and the overall wealth disparity in today’s society.
Today, we are excited to bring a full, exclusive stream of the EP a few days ahead of its release.
The EP kicks off with “Blood Spilling,” a riotous track from Rocstrong that painfully retraces his heritage to the Congo DRC and addresses the ongoing war, all the while being backed by heavy guitars, and hard-hitting drums that lead the way to make it an outstanding alt/rock track. “Homicide” sees the Irish musician in a defiant mood, waxing lyrically about his own belief in himself and his talents as a musician.
The rest of the EP highlights Rocstrong paying homage to his South Dublin hometown Tallaght in “Talla Boy”, in which the Irish Congolese native showcases his more folk/country influence, in a hard-hitting storytelling manner on his time growing up in Dublin. The EP closes out with the experimental “Gold Glow,” showing Rocstrong taking a different lyrical approach — moving away from reflection on his upbringing and hometown, and onto appreciating women and encouraging them to live their own best lives.
Listen to the EP for yourself below, and after the stream, find a note from Rocstrong himself explaining All On Black.
“The power of money is the key message of All On Black. We have given it so much power that now things have shifted into money having power over us. How much money you have decides how far you go and how long you can survive in this modern world. This change has caused a huge gap and those that can’t keep up are forgotten, cut off and no longer accepted in society.
We put out a message that all should be equal but unfortunately this is not the case. There are people living amongst us that are so cut off from the world, primarily because of the lack of money. They don’t get to have regular conversations with other people, they don’t get to eat or have necessities that we all have, they are deprived of acceptance and human contact for years, and as a result, they become alone with no options or choices to get them out of that situation. Why?
My parents are from Congo DRC but relocated to Ireland for a better life so that their children could have a better life. It wasn’t by choice. This also gets me questioning why Congo DRC, one of the richest countries in the world (natural resources wise) is a place with the poorest people? For my dreams to even come close to coming true, I had to leave my home and chase it elsewhere. Greed has crippled the place that I’m from and the same will happen globally sooner or later”
If you like what you hear from All On Black, you can keep up with Rocstrong on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.