(((SIGNALS))) Arsis Thesis – Ustanak
A signal comes before the full transmission. (((SIGNALS))) is Doomnation Radio’s space for bands to tell us about their new single and what it points toward: why this song came first, where it lives on the album, and what world it carries inside it. Three questions only, the rest is up to them.
Band: Arsis Thesis
Single: Ustanak
Release: Self-released (digital)
Release Date: July 31, 2026
Arsis Thesis are brothers Nick Blevins on guitar and vocals and Jake Blevins on drums and vocals, working out of Houston, Texas since 2015. Their debut EP Pangea pulled doom toward noise rock, math rock, sludge, post-hardcore and psych. Ustanak, six tracks with cover art by Adam Burke of Nightjar Illustration, arrives July 31, 2026, self-released. The title track and Capricorn are streaming now.
(1) Ustanak is the Serbian word for uprising, and you handed it to the title track. Why did this song become the one that names the whole record?
When we began writing new music for the album, the title track was the first song that fully came to fruition, and I think it set the tone for the rest of the tracks, so we felt it a logical choice to use as a kind of mission statement for the album. It also acts as a kind of microcosm of the album as a whole. It’s a suite in four parts that takes you on a journey through the formation, struggle, and bloody end of a rebellion, and I feel the album as a whole follows a similar arc, just with more nuance and focus on the different emotions that being forced to fight for what you believe in brings up. It’s also the song I feel I’m most proud of structurally. The way all the different sections are so different yet flow into each other so cohesively, and also reference each other with different musical motifs, is something we really worked hard to create. In our live show we always play it as a closer. We get really bombastic, with loads of effects and feedback let loose to put an exclamation point at the end of our set, and I think it accomplishes a similar goal as the closer and title track of the album.
(2) The album takes rage at systemic oppression and channels it toward something disciplined and directed. Where does “Ustanak” sit in that movement?
“Ustanak” is an album about rage and resisting authoritarianism, but it’s also an exploration into the psyche of those who realize they are living in a world that is unjust by design. That the systems at play are not just demoralizing but intentionally seek to subjugate them, and how they navigate not only the anger that comes with that realization, but also all the other feelings that bubble up. There are plenty of moments in the album, like sections of “Heretical Violence” and “Capricorn,” that invoke the wrath and resentment of a revolution, but there are also more subtle moments that call on the sadness and fear that come with realizing the sacrifices you are going to have to make to create a better world, like the instrumental track “The Sunrise We’ll Never See.” It’s really a reflection on the growing fascistic tendencies we are living through in the United States. Feeling helpless, angry, sad, scared, despondent, and hopeful all at the same time, and not knowing how to handle that or where to put those feelings. It’s ugly, and brooding, and beautiful, unapologetically. Ultimately I feel “Ustanak” can be summed up by the monologue featured in the outro section of the track “Firebird”: never give up fighting for each other even if you will never see the results of it, because fighting against fascism and authoritarianism is in itself a righteous goal, and a worthy pursuit.
(3) If “Ustanak” were a scene in a film, what happens in it?
It would probably be similar to a scene out of Andor or perhaps Dune. A group of would-be upstart rebels gather in a dimly lit hideout, fueled only by their will to persevere. They argue about how they react and plan their next move against an unstoppable and cruel force that’s taken hold of their world. None of them are sure what to do. They are all flying by the seat of their pants, they aren’t sure if anything they are doing is good, but they keep going. A hard cut to an infiltration mission where, if any one step of the plan fails, the entire rebellion is over, but through pure force of will they manifest victory. Many of them die, but their memories are preserved by the better life those who come after them now get to live.
Ustanak is out July 31, 2026, self-released. Pre-order the album on Bandcamp: https://arsisthesis.bandcamp.com/album/ustanak
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