On September 30th, Via Nocturna released the debut album by the Texas black/doom band Wings of Dahak. In the run-up to the release I wrote twice about individual songs from the album, which together displayed the diversity of the music created by this talented trio — guitarist/vocalist Dave Tillery (Embalmed, Gruesome Fate), lead guitarist Cody Daniels (Giant of the Mountain), and drummer Matt Thompson (King Diamond). Now it’s my pleasure to present the premiere of a new music video for the album’s strikingly powerful title track.
The album is conceptually based on the horrifying tale of Azhi-Dahaka, an unstoppable three-headed dragon “created by the Spirit of Destruction”, who brings ruin to the earth. As the band further explain:
“Dahak, whose wings blot out the sky, took over the earthly throne and he brought misery, hunger, thirst, old age and death, mourning and lamentation, excessive heat and cold, and intermingling of demons and men.
“The music here is created with this spirit in heart and mind.”
That spirit comes through with tremendous potency in “Unholy Wings“. The music is truly apocalyptic. From the first seconds, it creates a mood of dread and fearsome foreboding. With a dirge-like gait and a crushing bass line, the chords seem to ooze poison and peril, while the trilling lead guitar melody is an unearthly sound, spectral and cold.
Although the music never bursts into a race, its intensity nevertheless mounts higher and higher, thanks in part to the vibrant expressiveness of Dave Tillery’s gravel-throated growl, which becomes more and more inflamed, and to the rising flames captured in the shimmering guitar leads. While the band relentlessly hammer their grim melodies into your head, over and over, the feeling of oppressiveness and doom grows ever stronger.
The video, which Dave Tillery also directed, makes for a fine pairing with this very dramatic music. It intersperses scenes of the band shot against a stark white backdrop with a collage of other imagery that itself adds to the feelings of mystery, evil, and catastrophic destruction that come through so forcefully in the song.
In addition to this new video, I’ve included a stream of the album below as well — which is really worth your time from start to finish. You can get it on CD or digitally via the following links:
Available in the US from:
http://wingsofdahak.com
Available in Europe and Asia from:
http://store.vianocturna.com
Bandcamp:
https://vianocturna.bandcamp.com/album/unholy-wings
Wings of Dahak on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/WingsOfDahak/