US Death Metallers ARTIFICIAL BRAIN have released “Planet: Carrion”, the second single from the band’s upcoming full-length album “Antillia”, due out November 13 via Profound Lore Records.
The track is accompanied by a brand new video edited by Alex Moreán, which you can watch below.
Stream the single HERE
Discussing the songwriting process behind “Planet: Carrion”, guitarist Dan Gargiulo comments: “The writing process for ‘Planet: Carrion’, and the song itself, are pretty different for us. The riffs were co-written by Sam and myself, and during the writing session we bounced ideas off one another and ended up with a song that stands out from more typical AB fare. Just harmonically alone, it’s more experimental than usual. There are notes that sour the consonance of melodic sounding riffs, and we used chord changes that we hadn’t tread upon yet. It’s also our slowest song, until the end where it kind of explodes. Personally I think it’s a good pick for an early release, as it may surprise longtime fans with how it breaks from tradition.”
Talking about the concept behind the video, editor Alex Moréan adds: “Exploring the idea of a dying planet is something that is sadly very relevant to our generation, so I chose to look at it through the eyes of said planet and go beyond the usual scope. A barren wasteland is what we leave behind, but what comes after that? In this case, Planet Carrion is the aftermath of the aftermath.“
Tracklist:
- The Wandering Star Prion
- Quantum Malignancies
- Obsidian Agents
- Deciphering the Anachronistic Tongues of the Relic Satellites
- Planet: Carrion
- Against the Furthest Reaches of the Light
- Cosmic Death Church
- Solar Ark
- Antillia (in Chromatic Aberration)
Space and time transform their passengers; all boundaries are permeable. ARTIFICIAL BRAIN wrestles at length with this reality on “Antillia”. It’s nine tales of cosmic woe repeatedly invoking images of invasion and penetration: strange diseases filter down from the sky; pollutants corrupt the water and soil; medical nanobots trigger cancerous plagues; alien subversives undermine terrestrial governments. Again and again, humans are defiled and transformed as they struggle to navigate the sea of stars.
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN itself has been similarly transmuted by their local environment. After a period of operation as a six-person international collective, the band has established a new base of operations in Richmond, Virginia. In doing so, they have absorbed some local contaminants of their own in the form of vocalist Mike Paparo (Inter Arma) and drummer Alex Tomlin (Battlemaster). Rounding out the lineup for the new era of the band are the founding-member core of guitarist Dan Gargiulo and bassist Samuel Smith along with most-recent guitarist Oleg Zalman. Other satellites in the band’s orbit remain familiar, like recurring guest vocalist Paulo Pangutalan (Miasmatic Necrosis) and longtime ally Ian Jacyszyn (Aeviterne), who delivered Antillia’s mix – a marvel of gritty, lived-in detail, as impeccably designed as the bridge of the space freighter Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s Alien.
The core premise of ARTIFICIAL BRAIN’s music remains consistent, too: a grafting of sinuous, futuristic black metal melody onto a dense and imposing death metal skeleton. Antillia brings a new degree of urgency to this distinctive formula. It is their shortest and most aggressive album to date; its blastbeat-laden cacophony is by turns punctuated by riotous solos and shrouded by a nimbus of hazy textures.
Despite its ferocious clamor, Antillia’s primary emotional affect is melancholic, even wistful. A sense of loss and surrender permeates the record, most strikingly articulated by its title track’s ode to a homeworld irretrievably abandoned to the void: “Was it ever real? Was it ever real?” For Artificial Brain, the future has ceased to serve as a repository for optimistic dreams. It is here, now, in all its horror, visiting itself upon our bodies and minds, whether we like it or not.
“Antillia” was recorded/mixed by Ian Jacyszyn (Miasmatic Necrosis, Aeviterne) and mastered by Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts. Defeated Sanity etc.). Artwork by Fleshflies.
The album will be out November 13 on Profound Lore Records and is available for pre-order HERE.
ARTIFICIAL BRAIN are:
Mike Paparo – Vocals
Dan Gargiulo – Guitars
Oleg Zalman – Guitars
Samuel Smith – Bass
Alex Tomlin – Drums
For more info visit:
https://www.facebook.com/ArtificialBrainMusic/
https://www.instagram.com/artificial_brain_band/
https://artificialbrain.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords/
