This is good timing. At our site we’ve recently started rolling out our list of 2016’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”. Our 2015 list included a song by Sweden’s Gloson from their striking 32-minute debut EP Yearwalker. And now we have a new song to premiere from their forthcoming debut album Grimen, which is one we’ve been eagerly awaiting. Don’t be surprised if you see this song next year at this time, on our 2017 list.
We’ve already had one powerful clue that the dynamic power of Yearwalker wasn’t the result of random luck and didn’t represent a plateau of what Gloson were capable of achieving. I’m referring to the song “Cringe“, which appeared last fall. This new song, “Antlers“, provides further proof that Gloson have continued to move upward, even though they started their climb at a very high place already.
That “Antlers” sinks firmly into the memory doesn’t mean it’s a bouncy or light-hearted track — far from it. It’s a dark descent, crushingly bleak and disturbingly ominous, but no less gripping for that.
Uneasiness blooms from the very beginning, a gloomy duet between guitar and didgeridoo (yes, didgeridoo!) soon joined by the slow tumble of drums and the deep, grating harshness of the vocals, speaking words both eloquent and desolate. An eerie instrumental interlude further enhances the song’s haunting ambience, segmenting surges of intensity and leading to the ingenious pairing of clean and harsh vocals in the wrenching chorus.
By the time the song has ended, following an extended instrumental section that runs the soul-blasted central melody and its lead-weighted accompaniment in a loop, it’s hard to get “Antlers” un-stuck from your head. It stays with you like a scar.
Grimen was mixed by Gloson’s Mikael Sällström and mastered by Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg. It features artwork and layout by Ogino Design. The album will be released on February 13 through Art of Propaganda. For more info and to order, check these links:
http://www.art-of-propaganda.de
https://www.facebook.com/Glosonswe
Below you will find “Antlers” (with lyrics), as well as the video for that previously released track, “Cringe”.
Track List:
01. Prowler
02. Fabulist
03. Antlers
04. Cringe
05. Specter
06. Embodiment
“Antlers” — Lyrics:
I watched the feathers (closely) as they hovered above fire
This season has drawn them down to perish (into nothing)
The crown is growing, inhale the smog
The blaze reminds me of my trail to walk alone
I wear the antlers of the Grim
The sun deceived me
I felt the tremor inside
A sudden shift, a new approach
No reason to hold on, I detach my wings and fall
Counting off my failures to find the measures of crucial weight
We live – to surrender
We crawl – to perish in dust
We dwell – in doubt among fools
We starve – in seclusion
I wear the antlers of the Grim
The sun deceived me
Loss