One week ago, ‘An Epoch Ellipsis‘, the second single of THE AMENTA’s coming fourth album “Revelator“, was unveiled. Now, Debemur Morti Productions are proud to team up with famous webzine No Clean Singing to present a sinister and horror-esk video clip for the composition. The black and white visual components of THE AMENTA’s art complete the nasty and unrelenting, yet often complex sonic approach. Together, the moving pictures and the aural attack form a tantalizing unity. Or as editor Islander of No Clean Singing states:
“As the music slowly begins to intensify again, dissonant riffing puts your teeth on edge and percussive hammer blows will dent your skull. The music shimmers and soars in a semblance of mad grandeur, while the double-bass thunder does its best to decimate everything in its path.“
In contrast to the video clip for the first single ‘Sere Money‘, THE AMENTA decided to craft moving pictures in black and white for ‘An Epoch Ellipsis‘. This has a reason, as composer and keyboard player Timothy Pope explains elaborately:
“The black and white style for this film clip seemed to suit the track well, which is a much nastier affair than the last single ‘Sere Money’. Where that clip was a multi-coloured fever dream, this time we wanted to show something that was a bit darker and grimier, and the black and white style seemed the perfect way to show this while differentiating the two clips.
The last clip was filmed by our vocalist, Cain Cressall, in Perth where COVID was less of a concern and he was able to bring together a larger crew and cast. This time, we filmed in all the home states of the band and we were forced to be a lot more economical with our production as we had recently had some resurgence of the virus and couldn’t get out as much, but I don’t think that held us back. All it did was force us to dig into our subconscious to pull out images that are perhaps simpler, but effective on a gut level.”
Taking a closer look at the perfomance of frontman Cain in this video clip, one cannot help but notice that some similarities to the rite of crucifixion exist:
“Cain’s shots were inspired by religious iconography, particularly Catholic images of the crucifixion, as they speak to even the irreligious on a primal level. I think that may be mixed in with some inspiration for films like ‘Begotten” and Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ images. All that inspiration goes into our brains and gets spewed out, alchemically changed as something new. When we are talking about imagery and themes, especially this time around, we’re less interested in what they mean, more interested in how the ‘feel’. If the juxtaposition of images feels true in some primal sense then the meaning is inherent, even if it isn’t clear. Which is a fancy way of saying that the imagery is there to spark interest and confusion in equal measure. To shoot Cain’s parts, we once again worked with Garth Hurley (who also edited the film clip) who shot and directed the ‘Sere Money’ clip as well. Cain and Garth created a pool filled with blackened water. I don’t know what substance they used to blacken the water. Considering Cain’s predilection for maggots and rot, I’m too afraid to ask. The room was blacked out with black plastic, as all our shots were, and Cain tried to sing while drowning himself in the black pool”, narrates Timothy Pope about the genesis of the clip.
“Revelator” will be released on CD, vinyl, tape, and digitally on February 19th. Pre-orders are possible via the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp shops.
THE AMENTA is ugly, dissonant, electronically-lacerated Extreme Metal from Australia, featuring the core creative line-up of Cain Cressall (Vocals), Erik Miehs (Guitars) and Timothy Pope (Keyboards, Samples & Effects) with Dan Quinlan (Bass) and drummer David Haley (PSYCROPTIC, ex-ABORTED) rounding out the lineup.
Early experiments with dissonance resulted in 2002’s “Mictlan” MCD. Two years later, the band had signed to Listenable Records who released the debut full length, “Occasus”. Next came 2008’s divisive “n0n” album. “n0n” was a dense, ugly, sprawling hymn to urban decay. A filthy paean to political manipulation. It was anti-everything.
Upon returning to Australia after extensive European and American touring, THE AMENTA recorded a free download of a huge multimedia release in 2011 entitled “V01D”. The release featured the new title track, re-recordings of tracks from the two previous albums, as well as professionally filmed and recorded live performances and film clips. The new song showcased one of many new directions THE AMENTA could take. Epic chords held in stasis by drones: melody where before there had only been dissonance.
In 2013, THE AMENTA released “Flesh Is Heir”. The most organic and open of THE AMENTA’s releases to date, “Flesh Is Heir” built huge sculptures of sound from decayed choir loops and found percussion, the strongest riffs and guitar hooks in THE AMENTA back catalogue and an immaculate vocal performance.
After taking a hiatus from live performance in 2014, the band resumed activity in 2019. Inchoate rumblings slowly took shape. In 2020, THE AMENTA is excited to announce a partnership with Debemur Morti Productions, a label whose name is synonymous with art and with the most forward thinking bands in extreme music.