Credit: Neil DaCosta
Portland progressive sludge masters Lord Dying have unleashed their new single / video 'The Universe Is Weeping', taken from their long-awaited new full-length, Clandestine Transcendence, which is released 19th January 2024 via MNRK Heavy.
Pre-order Clandestine Transcendence here: https://lorddying.ffm.to/clandestinetranscendence
Vocalist / guitarist Erik Olson comments on the new single: "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.”
Bassist Alyssa Maucere, who directed and produced the video, adds: “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.”
Lord Dying transform tragedy into triumph. From the earliest rumblings of their first demo and self-titled EP (both issued in 2011), through the piledriving force of Summon The Faithless (2013) and crushing despair of Poisoned Altars (2015), the band have conjured masterfully melancholic heavy music for the misanthropic, with grit and grime.
In 2019, they delivered Mysterium Tremendum, a record Kerrang! declared a “prog-metal masterpiece.” The heady and adventurous existential meditation on death kicked off a trilogy and that story continues in 2023 with an increasingly ambitious follow-up, the aptly named 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). Chicago Reader crowned Mysterium Tremendum, “a beautiful meditation on tragedy.” Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (High On Fire, Code Orange, Kvelertak) at his God City Studios, Clandestine Transcendence steps even further into the great unknown, filled with riffs and vibes.
Clandestine Transcendence picks up where 2019’s critically championed Mysterium Tremendum left off. Latin for “awe-inspiring mystery” or “terrible mystery” depending on one’s view of existence, Mysterium Tremendum began a narrative centered on a central character the band calls The Dreamer. Olson describes The Dreamer as an immortal being who wants to die. On Clandestine Transcendence, part two of a planned trilogy, he gets that wish. “This one is about what happens beyond death,” the frontman explains.
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