Through their new album To Bare the Weight of Death, which will be released next month by Vendetta Records, the UK black metal band Andracca delve into deep subjects, perhaps the most profound and challenging subjects that confront, or eventually will confront, all of us.
The album’s title itself points to its themes — the experiences of grief and despair caused by death, and in this case, the acceptance of mortality, a reconciliation with death that can be life-affirming. Inspired by the band’s own personal experiences and struggles with loss, the album is intended to manifest “a unification of life and death”, “a triumph of resilience and will, inviting listeners to embrace their own lives with renewed vigor”.
Obviously, these subjects are emotionally powerful, ranging from extreme trauma to struggle, and ultimately to endurance, acceptance, and maybe something even more valuable. They are subjects that call music of equal emotional power.
Did Andracca succeed? You’re about to get the beginning of an answer through our premiere of a video for the song “Oceans of Fire“.
“Taken from the midpoint of the album,” as the band explain, “this track represents the end of the fall into despair, and the beginnings of a journey to unapologetically seize one’s life for themselves with a refined understanding of their own mortality, forsaking comfort in favour of fulfilling Will”.
The music manifests the song’s name in electrifying fashion. The riffing roils like a titanic whirlpool, with sparks flying instead of foam, and a fiery conflagration in the heart of the vortex. Adding even more adrenaline, the drums ferociously pummel, the bass rumbles and thunders, and the vocals cry out in gritty snarls and caustic howls.
Even when the drums kick up punkish grooves, the guitars still rapidly whirl and glitter in a glorious blaze and exultantly scream into the skies. It does indeed sound triumphant, yet the music also channels other moods as it morphs, moods of grim determination, though perhaps edged with dark linings.
It’s one of those songs that takes a listener’s breath away from the very start, an incandescent thriller that causes the heart to race and never relents.
The video adds to the music’s electrifying effects. It features footage captured by GoldMoldRecords at Andracca‘s live performance in Glasgow in August of 2023, and “additional footage from the shores on which much peace was found at times of grief”, shot by Blackfire Productions. Video production also by Blackfire Productions.
ANDRACCA:
K.DWS
P.BND
K.VKS
L.FOG
To Bare the Weight of Death will be released by Vendetta on January 19, 2024, on CD, LP, and cassette tape formats. For more info about the album and its release, keep an eye on the locations linked below.
VENDETTA RECORDS:
https://vendetta-records.com/
https://vendettarecords.bigcartel.com/
https://vendetta-records.bandcamp.com/
ANDRACCA:
https://andracca.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Andraccaband/
https://www.instagram.com/andracca/
