Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
One of the most intriguing, more incredible progressive death metal bands that I have heard in a while is the Borlänge, Sweden-based Letters From The Colony.
Their blend of far-reaching math metal, crushing death elements, and shoegaze moments are soon to be on full aural display. After recently announcing their signing to Nuclear Blast, we now receive news that their début release, ‘Vignette‘, will be unleashed on February 16, 2018.
The news comes with an incredible official video for the band’s song “Erasing Contrast“, a visualizer laced with surreal dreamscapes and mesmerizing imagery. Mere words cannot properly relay its amazing content, meaning it must be seen, nay, experienced, to be believed. Singer Alexander Backlund comments:
“We’re proud to share the first single off of our début album Vignette. ‘Erasing Contrast’ saw its completion shortly after I joined the band, and is in many ways the song that set this whole thing in motion for us. The lyrics – which were my first musical contribution – are about this sort of phantom self that haunts all of us; our ideal selves as seen by ourselves or others. We’re all born as blank slates, but along our various walks of life we construct a false perspective.
“We’re endlessly comparing our triumphs and failings to manufactured realities sold to us by the media, or by our peers. From birth we’re told of all the things that we could be, but in a world where anyone can aspire to be anything, the strong prey on the weak while the rest of us are left to carry the burden of infinite potential. Our self-image will always stand in contrast to all of the things we could have achieved, should we have chosen a different path. This is the nature of our humanity. It’s an inherent flaw within our way of thinking that companies and religious groups love to exploit. Want nothing, have nothing, take nothing, none… except for our album Vignette, you should totally buy a copy.“
Letters From The Colony has unveiled the cover artwork and tracklist for the ‘Vignette’ album, which was mastered by Jens Bogren (Dimmu Borgir, Opeth, Paradise Lost). It is now available for pre-order and you can get the physical editions of the new album here.
The eye-popping artwork was created by Chris Panatier.
Letters From The Colony:
Alexander Backlund – Vocals
Sebastian Svalland – Guitar
Johan Jönsegård – Guitar
Emil Östberg – Bass
Jonas Sköld – Drums
Tracklist:
Galax
Erasing Contrast
The Final Warning
This Creature Will Haunt Us Forever
Cataclysm
Terminus
Glass Palaces
Sunwise
Vignette
