Brooklyn metal band Unlocking the Truth just signed a $1.8 million record deal with Sony. This is important for two reasons: It feels like it has been eons since an emerging rock band made news with a major record deal, and the band is made up of two 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old. Guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, bassist Alec Atkins, and drummer Jarad Dawkins (he's the preteen) went viral last year thanks to a video of them grinding out a sludgy breakdown outside of a Times Square subway station. But these kids are no gimmick —  after over a million views, they went on to rip it up at Coachella this year.

The Sony contract locks them into a five-album deal with a 16-17% royalty rate, which is apparently above the industry average, but the first album must sell 250,000 for them to get paid in full. This isn't exactly Ricky Williams levels of incentives, but imagine how much better the terms would've been if these guys didn't have a rejected Jaden Smith hashtag for a name.

Because they're minors, the contract must receive judicial approval, but either way, the fate of rock 'n' roll is in their hands. And with the current state of the genre, we may as well entrust these barely-teens with this power. Rock has always been a kids' game anyway, and Dave Grohl already had his chance.

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