Prog aren’t interested in cleaning things up. After a year on the road celebrating the 31st anniversary of Cleansing, Tommy Victor and company have preserved the whole thing on tape — warts, sweat, and all. Live and Uncleansed, out 03/06 via Steamhammer, compiles eleven performances captured across European venues and festivals in the summer of 2025, plus three bonus tracks. No touch-ups, no re-recorded vocals, no second-guessing.
That philosophy wasn’t accidental. When asked how difficult it was to resist post-production fixes in an era where everything can be corrected, Victor was unequivocal: “It was an easy decision to not go in and fix stuff because I thought resinging the songs would ruin the live intensity and force of the vocal. Also, the pure aggression of the guitars would be lost by overdubbing them.”
The setlist for the anniversary run was built to reflect three decades of the band’s catalogue without leaning too hard on sentiment. Victor describes a sprawling set that stretched past two hours, pulling from Cleansing in full while weaving in newer fan favourites and some genuine deep cuts — including “Senseless Abuse” from Force Fed and “Unfortunately” from Rude Awakening, the latter unplayed for roughly 29 years.
“We didn’t do too much balancing. We just played a lot of the popular songs and some more. Our set was over two hours.”
Energy management over that kind of runtime is its own discipline. Prong‘s approach was structural rather than physical — the set opened with the mid-tempo groove of “Revenge Best Served Cold” before escalating through thrash and landing on the big numbers late.
“Honestly, the beginning was never as energetic as later in the set. It’s just the way we designed the set… We hit them later with thrash, then get slower than but out the big songs. So there’s never a burnout early,” Victor explained.
One of the more notable choices on the tour was returning to standard E tuning for older material originally written that way. For Victor, the reasoning was straightforward: “E just sounds more in your face, I think. It has more of an attack. Things start getting more murky with thrash and crossover when you get lower than C.”
The lead single pulled from the record is “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck,” taken from their Wacken set. Victor doesn’t overthink the choice: “It’s the most popular Prong song. It’s obvious that would be the choice.”
As for where Prong hit hardest in a live setting these days, he’s equally direct — clubs over festivals, every time: “It’s the clubs. Anywhere I can actually stare at people and see their faces, that makes me more excited.”
Cleansing itself gets a measured assessment from its author. Not a creative pinnacle, but a commercial and cultural high-water mark that arrived at exactly the right moment — and one Victor believes the band left too soon: “It was a popularity peak. It came out great at the perfect time. We should have toured longer on that record and not gone into the studio again so quickly.”
That perspective seems to be feeding directly into whatever comes next. Victor says the follow-up to 2022’s State of Emergency is roughly 65% complete, and that revisiting Cleansing-era material on the road has had a tangible impact on the new writing: “I think half the record has an alternative metal vibe like side two of Cleansing… I think there are songs that sound completely different than anything out there. Other songs are fast bangers, lots of riffs, and aggressive.”
He also flags “Breaking Point” and “Non-Existence” from State of Emergency as songs he’s keen to bring back into the live set — two tracks that never quite got their due on the road.
On the subject of new material, Victor‘s approach has simplified over time: “I’ve learned my lesson; I don’t spend a huge amount of time trying to perfect songs. Some of the best songs were done quickly and not questioned.”
Live and Uncleansed is available now via Steamhammer.
