Guitarist-composer-producer extraordinaire Danimal Cannon is a one-of-a-kind. A Golden Joystick nominated videogame music composer, sound designer, and guitarist, Danimal Cannon returns with his first album in over a decade, Elder Evil – to be released on 15th January.
Pre-order the record here: https://danimalcannon.bandcamp.com/album/elder-evil
Pre-save the record here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/danimalcannon/elder-evil
In celebration of the news, the first single from the album, ‘The Horrors Persist But So Do I’ is now available, complete with an entirely self-shot video, in typical Danimal Cannon style.
Dan comments:
“‘The Horrors Persist’ is emblematic of the intensity of sweeping orchestras and growling guitar lines, balanced by the vulnerability and beauty of piano and voice. The song represents a cinematic approach, with the stress and magnitude rising throughout until the sudden orchestral reprise at the end symbolizes the cold morose decompression following the survival of the immediate horror. I fully produced the music video in-house, handling the filming, editing, compositing, and grading, using 3D motion-tracked cameras composited into Unreal Engine.”
Elder Evil is a departure from Danimal Cannon’s previous chiptune soundworld, but still typical of his mercurial talent. An almost-exclusively-instrumental record, Elder Evil is mindbendingly dense – at once reminiscent of fellow prog-metal wizards Devin Townsend, Perturbator, Igorrr, or game composer titans Mick Gordon (DOOM) and Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy).
Created in its entirety by Danimal Cannon from his bedroom, in between game soundtrack projects, Elder Evil came together over five years. Nearly every track is born from 120-240 tracks (for comparison the average rock track has between 30-50). Synthesizers, guitars and basses, full orchestral sections, percussion and drumkits – if you can think of it, it’s likely in there.
Elder Evil is a loose concept record – telling a story wherein a Warlock summons a Lovecraftian monstrosity from space to ravage a planet in exchange for unlimited power. The people of the planet defend against the initial onslaught and defeat the warlock, but eventually decide to take the battle to space and the battle directly to the giant Lovecraftian being in orbit. They make their way inside the beast, defeat it, but return home to a battered planet to pick up the pieces of a forever changed world.
In Dan‘s words: “These arrangements leverage all of the advancements available for modern 21st century recording. Different listening environments will elevate different elements: such as detailed headphones highlighting a sound design texture, harmony track, or countermelodies. Listening with a powerful subwoofer reveals complexity and tightness in the bass or percussive instruments. Every song is loaded with complimentary embellishments, harmonic motion contrast, rhythmic interplay, and a full musical conversation between dozens of instruments. There’s a lot of room to discover more and more as you continue to listen.”
Danimal Cannon has been a composer and sound designer since 2010, for dozens of videogames, including Just Shapes and Beats (sold over 1 million copies), Pokemon, and Minecraft. He’s toured across the US with Psychostick, The Protomen, Galactic Empire, Megaran, and Bit Brigade, and has headlined shows on four continents.
In classic Danimal Cannon fashion, his live show involves a videogame clone of himself created using Unreal Engine. In his words: “He’s sort of like my evil twin, and we interact during the show. At a recent show I played a fan asked me how big my team of animators is to create that. It’s just me in my living room doing facial and full body mocap.” Truly a one-of-a-kind.
Tracklisting:
1: Infiltration
2: Invasion Of The Starspawn
3: Calamity From The Skies
4: Lawful Evil
5: Out Of Time
6: The Launch
7: Navigating The Tentacles
8: The Horrors Persist But So Do I
9: Belly Of The Beast
10: Elder Evil
11: Starless (King Crimson cover)
Danimal Cannon online:
https://www.danimalcannon.com
https://danimalcannon.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.instagram.com/danimalcannon
https://x.com/armcannon
https://www.youtube.com/user/danimal201
https://www.facebook.com/danimalcannonmusic
