Portland, Oregon-based progressive sludge metal outfit Lord Dying today unleashes their monolithic new single, “The Universe Is Weeping,” alongside its accompanying video. The track comes by way of the band’s upcoming studio album, Clandestine Transcendence, set for official release on January 19 via MNRK Heavy.
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From the earliest rumblings of their debut demo and self-titled EP (both issued in 2011), through the piledriving force of 2013’s Summon The Faithless and devastating despair of 2015’s Poisoned Altars, Lord Dying has composed masterfully melancholic music for the misanthropic, with grit and grime.
In 2019, the band delivered Mysterium Tremendum. The heady and adventurous existential reflection on death of that record served as the impetus to a trilogy, and that story continues in 2023 with an increasingly ambitious follow-up, Clandestine Transcendence.
On Clandestine Transcendence, Lord Dying cofounders Erik Olson (guitar, vocals) and Chris Evans (guitar) are joined by Alyssa Mocere (former bassist for Eight Bells) and Kevin Swartz (current drummer of Tithe). Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (High On Fire, Code Orange, Kvelertak) at his God City Studios, the twelve-track opus steps even further into the great unknown, filled with riffs and vibes.
Woven throughout the songs, that story and its rich thematic material inform a wholly immersive listen. Tension, drama, and atmosphere abound all over songs like “Unto Becoming” and latest single, “The Universe Is Weeping.”
Comments Olson, "We are very psyched to premiere the opening track and video for ‘The Universe Is Weeping’ off our upcoming album. This song picks up directly where our previous album leaves off. Post death. Blazing beyond the cosmos and outside the realms of consciousness. Total dissolution of the self. Into Clandestine Transcendence.”
Adds Maucere, who directed and produced the video, “When asked to direct the video for ‘The Universe Is Weeping,’ I couldn’t help but tackle the concept of the Cosmic Calendar. For instance, the Universe’s birthdate is January 1st. Life on earth = Sept 30th. Human history is Dec 31st at 23:59:57. We consume everything in our path as our sources of energy, some of which have been on earth for over 600 million years. If the past can tell us anything about life, a new life form could come along one day that decides that they can house us, raise us, and overfeed us to become their most preferred source of energy. Or we could just destroy each other before that day may come, which seems more likely to me.”
Clandestine Transcendence will be released on January 19, 2024 via MNRK Heavy on CD, LP, and digital formats.
Clandestine Transcendence artwork and tracklisting:
"The Universe Is Weeping"
"I Am Nothing I Am Everything"
"Unto Becoming"
"Final Push Into The Sun"
"Dancing On The Emptiness"
"Facing The Incomprehensible"
"A Brief Return To Physical Form"
"A Bond Broken By Death"
"Break In The Clouds (In The Darkness Of Our Minds)"
"Soul Metamorphosis"
"Swimming In The Absence"
"The Endless Road Home"
"The Universe Is Weeping" video:
"The Endless Road Home" video:
(Photo by Neil DaCosta)
