Surachai are not really the kind of artist that Decibel devotes much time to covering. Their music, a fusion of glitchy electronics, extreme metal and noise, is hypnotic and trance-inducing. On “Empress of the Starved Lung,” Surachai enlists the help of former The Locust keyboardist/vocalist K. Joseph Karam to build a disjointed soundscape centered around a pulsing. Ultimately, Surachai’s similaritiesto extreme metal are found most in the aesthetic achieved through the non-traditional sounds they explore and the dark aesthetic they embrace, one shown clearly in the video for “Empress,” which shows a cloaked figure walking through a barren landscape.
“Joey is a musical hero of mine, someone that made performing with Moog’s and keyboards actually cool to me,” Surachai tells Decibel of the collaboration. “He’s meticulous in the way he writes and whatever material I threw at him, he would write to every nuance and detail. I’m excited that he’s got a new project called Fahih with Kevin Avery (drummer of Retox) that’s playing a show in Long Beach at a venue called 4th St Vine on December 26th. Yeah, I’m using this opportunity to promote someone else’s work.”
With that, this is “Empress of the Starved Lung,” out January 25 on BL_K Noise.
