Folk black metal fast-risers PERCHTA drop their sophomore album “D’Muata” (“The Mother”) both in shops and on streaming services today, on June 14, 2024.
Please see below for cover art, tracklist, and details of “D’Muata”.
“D’Muata” is now streaming in full and availablefor immediate publication via this link: https://youtu.be/LYUI8OwxOfk
PERCHTA comment: “While we manifested the cyclical creative power of nature itself on our debut full-length ‘Ufång’, we have meanwhile shifted our focus towards essential aspects of femininity”, frontwoman Frau Percht states. “Our new album ‘D’Muata’ deals with giving birth and being born. Motherhood, womanhood, and the deep emotional relationship and connection that these stages of life and sometimes roles entail. Regarding the musical realisation of ‘D’Muata’, we freed ourselves of all limitations. We felt the same with ‘Ufang’, but back then we wanted to remain true to the tried and tested. Although our black metal influences remain, we have meanwhile developed much further both in terms of energy and harmonies. Our sound continues to be rough and rugged, but the subject matter also required many subtleties and layers of detail. We have also integrated the hammered dulcimer more strongly in a supporting role. This wonderfully melodic instrument enables us to capture and express the atmosphere of the natural Alpine world around us. On ‘D’Muata’, the interplay between harsh vocals and melodic voices emerges as an important element. Just as the album’s themes trigger many different emotions, we use multiple vocal styles to give express the right feelings at any given moment. A distinctive feature of the Perchta sound are tracks that do not adhere to the regular songwriting rules, but should be rather listened to as musical narratives. This concept is especially expressed in the songs ‘Heiliges Bluat’ and ‘Langtuttin & Stampa’. Probably the most significant change since the recording of ‘Ufang’ is the involvement of the whole band in the making of ‘D’Muata’. This strengthened our bond as a group and is also directly reflected in the songs, which benefit from the sprawling creative diversity of everyone involved. We think that it is exactly due to the harmonious creation process that ‘D’Muata’ turned into a self-contained body of work with many layers of detail and musical twists and turns.”
Tracklist
1. Vom Verlånga
2. Ois wås ma san
3. Heiliges Bluat
4. Hebamm
5. D’Muata
6. Wehenkanon
7. Ausbruch
8. Långtuttin & Stampa
The image of a solitary woman living in a remote Alpine mountain place literally at the edge of civilisation evokes strong connotations of which ‘witch’ is probably one of the first. An independent woman confident and free in her actions, sexuality, and self-determination still goes against the collective expectations of our society.
With PERCHTA‘s sophomore full-length entitled “D’Muata”, which translates from her Alpine Austrian dialect to English as “The Mother”, mastermind and vocalist Frau Percht and her band have created a feminist manifesto within a folklore influenced black metal context. Femininity in all its facets is a rather niche topic in this genre although it is an inseparable part of everything human and the natural world around us.
All members of PERCHTA work in one way or the other with natural materials, while being shaped by the majestic mountain landscape surrounding them and even experiencing the essence of life first hand working as a midwife. “D’Muata” places the focus on procreation, birth, the nourishing of life, and motherhood without reducing women to this aspect. Such themes as female sexuality, menstruation stigma, the loss of a child, violence against women, and even femicide are also explored – and also personified as in the dark ancient Alpine folklore figures described in the track ‘Langtuttin & Stampa’.
Taking their name from an alleged pagan goddess that older scholars tried to reconstruct as being worshipped in the Upper German and Austrian Alpine regions, PERCHTA were conceived in Tyrol, Austria in 2017 with an aim to preserve and rejuvenate regional traditions.
Three years later, PERCHTA released their debut album “Ufång” (2020), which established the band’s reputation as a highly individualistic and unique act. All lyrics of the entire album are intoned in the Tyrolean vernacular. The words are shrouded in a tempest of tremolo guitars and ritualistic folk with bone-piercing extreme vocals on top.
Once touring activities resumed after the global break, PERCHTA also began to earn attention for their outstanding live performances, which strengthened the bonds within the band. Now the black witch of the Tyrolean mountains and her pack return with a magical new album that PERCHTA will also bring to the stage!
Release date: June 14, 2024
Style: Folk Black Metal
Label: Prophecy Productions
Line-upFrau Percht – harsh & clean vocals, Teufelsgeige, percussions
Walscher Fabio D’Amore – bass, keys & programming
Loda Chris Knoll – electric lead & acoustic guitars
Moosmandl Christian Höll – dulcimer (Hackbrett)
Gsell Lukas Massinger – electric rhythm & acoustic guitars
Håscht Simon Schnückel – drums
Guest musicians
Morean (ALKALOID, ex-DARK FORTRESS) – vocals on ‘D’Muata’
Dr. Ranklstein (ARG!) – Percussion on ‘Wehenkanon’
Theresa Wopfner – tenor hammered dulcimer & zither
Claudia Ciresa, Katja Reisenbauer, Felix, Maria, Laurenz & Darius – choir
Guitar arrangement by Loda and Gsell
Rhythm& lead guitar recordings & editing at Loda’s home studio
Production, recording & editing
Fabio D’Amore at Synonym of Sound, Silz (AT)
Mixing
Staffan Karlsson at The Sweetspot, Halmstad (SE)
Fabio D’Amore at Synonym of Sound, Silz (AT)
Mastering
Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki (FI)
Cover artwork by Lisa Schubert (Vinsterwan)
Graphical design by Janus Net-Works
Link
www.facebook.com/perchta.band
www.instagram.com/perchta.band
Available formats
“D’Muata” is available as a 72-page hardcover CD artbook with bonus DVD, as ltd. smoke clear & black marbled vinyl LP, as black vinyl LP, and as Digisleeve CD.
Shop
http://lnk.spkr.media/perchta-dmuata
Live
02 AUG 2024 Münster (DE) Zappenduster
6-7 SEP 2024 Balver Höhle (DE) Prophecy Fest
28 SEP 2024 Heidelberg (DE) 20 Years NEM
29 NOV 2024 Salzburg (AT) Dome of Rock
30 NOV 2024 Innsbruck (AT) PMK Aftertour Show