The time has come to “Bask in the White Light” with metalcore bruisers Machinist!, who are debuting the first single from their forthcoming split with Georgia’s Dead Hand. On the first single, Machinist! deliver a straightforward wave of anger and angst in musical form; every instrument sounds like it was produced for maximum heaviness and vocalist Jeff Hill amplifies that with an emotive performance.
Bassist Matt Zagorski directed the accompanying music video, which, alongside the lyrics, tackles one of art’s evergreen topics: censorship and what responsibility, if any, that an artist has to its listeners.
“I wrote this song after someone complain about a music video we released where a guy stabs himself in the stomach and spits up blood,” Hill tells Decibel. “It’s not overtly gory, but someone online was upset by it. It really messed me up because it never crossed my mind that anything in this spooky voodoo magic storyline would evoke that response. So, I thought a lot about art and censorship and what an artist owes the world and how outside pressure can affect art. I wrote ‘Bask in the White Light’ about not wanting to live in a cookie cutter world with cookie cutter art. I think it’s one of the strongest things we’ve ever created.”
Machinist! will release their split with Dead Hand on March 17 via Nefarious Industries.
