The first time we featured the music of Black Hill Cove at this site two years ago we described it as “bleak and furious”, “both emotionally and ‘physically’ bruising and battering”, with every ingredient seizing attention and collectively creating “a viscerally intense experience”.
At that time the music we focused on was from this Portuguese band’s powerful debut album Broken, an amalgam of hardcore, thrash, and sludge that was released by Raging Planet Records. Black Hill Cove and Raging Planet have followed up that album with a new one named Ex Tenebris Vita that they released in April of this year, and to help call attention to it we’re now premiering a video for a song off the album named “Eternal“.
Nuno Aguiar de Loureiro, the band’s guitarist, has shared with us the inspiration behind “Eternal“, stating: “The track has the same feeling as the rest of the album, which is a feeling of resilience and positivity towards life.” The message of the track, as described by vocalist Rui FAC, is to “be yourself and show what you are capable of, and you will be eternal in the memories of others.”
The lyrics to “Eternal” aren’t utopian. They recognize the presence of the demons, fears, and pain that beset us. But they also convey an urgent insistence “that there’s a way to walk tall all your life / A way to raise your head and make everything feel right.”
The music isn’t utopian either. Its opening phase is grim and perilous, heaving and harrowing, accented by frightening wails and attacking drums. But following a throbbing guitar bridge the fight in the music emerges, a combination of hard-slugging grooves, intense cutting snarls, and fretwork that’s feverish and swirling.
The chorus furnishes the moments of greatest uplift (and the biggest hook), though even there the vocals are gritty and both the vocals and the melody have a dark shade, as if reflecting that there’s no magic in surmounting life’s difficulties, only a resolute refusal to surrender.
The accompanying video gives us a good view of how Black Hill Cove throw themselves into their live performances, enhancing the intensity of their music.
BLACK HILL COVE is:
Rui FAC: Vocals
Nuno Aguiar de Loureiro: Guitars/Synths
Xinês: Drums
Pedro Carvalho: Bass
The video we’ve premiered today is the fourth one that Black Hill Cove have released in support of Ex Tenebris Vita. The others focus on songs named “The Calling“, “The Wolf“, and “Angels Fall“. We’ve included all three of those below, as well as a stream of the complete album.
The album was recorded at Subpainexit Studios. It was produced, mixed, and mastered by Nuno Aguiar de Loureiro. Credit for the video production goes to Bruno Romão. To acquire the album, check the links below.
ORDER:
https://www.ragingplanet.pt/
https://ragingplanet.bandcamp.com/album/black-hill-cove-ex-tenebris-vita
BLACK HILL COVE:
https://www.facebook.com/Blackhillcove
https://www.instagram.com/blackhillcove
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0gFPdaMlIYdPjwpytkIlQ7