Australian prog metallers Twelve Foot Ninja finished their third album in late 2019, but then the world ground to a halt. Now the record is finally seeing the light of day. With Vengeance simultaneously maintaining the group’s adventurism and appealing to a wider audience, it’s well worth the wait. And, as Prog finds out from singer Kin Etik, it’s not just an album, either…

Words: Chris Cope Images: Kane Hibberd

L-R: Kin Etik, Rohan Hayes, Shane Russell and Stevic MacKay.

“I would attribute it to a really painful blind pimple, and you’re waiting for it to crown so you can pop that sucker,” Twelve Foot Ninja singer Kin Etik smirks. “It’s painful, but once you do manage to pop it, it’s a relief.”

After nearly two years, the Australian’s pimple is set to be burst – and then some. Twelve Foot Ninja, who’ve carved out a reputation as one of modern prog’s more shapeshifting outfits, have been sitting patiently on their third album, Vengeance, since late 2019. The pandemic derailed the band’s release plans, and for a quartet who like bouncing off walls, it must have been gruelling to keep it quiet.

“I think it’s a weird feeling from the point of view that we’re already quite intimate with this material [in] as far as we’ve had it for so long,” Etik says. “As far as my own opinions of the album, I don’t think I have them anymore. I don’t feel like I’m qualified to know whether or not it’s really good or really bad, and I think that’s really interesting, and kind of exciting.”