In their own words, Challenger Deep is “an experimental Belarusian band that plays an emotional, atmospheric mix of post-metal, black metal and hardcore,” whose live performances bring “a cold shower of emotions and nerves stretched to the limit, supplemented by atmospheric light show and video background.”
To date, the band have released two albums (Our Own Prisons in 2011, and Irreversible in 2014), a pair of splits (with their countrymen Barrow in 2013, and with Poland’s Hegemone in 2015), as well as a 2016 single named “Indifference“. And though there’s been a long seven years of silence since that last release, the band have brought themselves back together and are working toward the release of a new album — III. The Path — by the end of 2023.
To help pave the way, today we’re premiering a new single from the album named “Confidence“, and based on the power of what it delivers, expectations for the new full-length should be be very high.
Serpents appear on the cover art for “Confidence“, and the music itself has serpentine qualities. Its heavy low-end undulations do sound immense enough to take the moon and the sun in their jaws, while the quivering leads spawn images of viper-tongues flickering. The sounds are ominous and menacing, but the music is also crushing, thanks to its lead-weighted baselines and bone-smashing drums, and emotionally crushing when the chords seem to moan in despair.
The vocals add to the feelings of torment and torture in the song, expelling raw screams from a bloody throat, and the song’s crushing impact is amplified by massive jolting riffing, gut-slugging and neck-cracking percussion, and bursts of searing, maniacal sound. The song is a dynamic one, and so it also includes spasms of blasting and convulsions of fretwork with a glittering brilliance in its tone, which contrasts with the gargantuan maneuvers in the low end.
The moods of the song are thus black as night. It inflicts bludgeoning and bruising punishment with a grim, cold fury, but also channels fiery pain and agony, coupled with vocals that seem to hold nothing back in their blistering hardcore intensity.
As you ponder that gripping song, we’ll leave you with band links, as a way of keeping abreast of more news and music from the new album in the months to come, and as a chance to hear their previously released music.
https://www.instagram.com/challengerdeepband/
https://www.facebook.com/challengerdeepband
https://challengerdeepby.bandcamp.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0MZyzK3Ir0uoRHqGDuGRy4?si=PLMn75biSjOhq5DtwF_qTg