Moscow-based musical polymath Roman Filatov has been making thoughtful, complex sludge metal under the moniker Moanhand since 2016, and on June 18, he’ll release the project’s first full-length, Present Serpent, via Burning Shine Records. Filatov unveiled the album’s opening track, “Serpent Soul (A Tale of Angels’ Slaughter),” last month. Today, we’re stoked to premiere a visualizer for a second single from the album, the searing “Endless Embrace.”
“Endless Embrace” sees Filatov showing off his range, offsetting chugging, bottom-heavy riffs with gorgeous, synth-washed melodies and trading off his venomous, throat-ripping growls with hypnotic clean vocals. Filatov also incorporated an array of world music influences, as he describes in the statement below:
“Even though Present Serpent was written at home in my apartment and recorded at a studio in Moscow, the focus was never on the pandemic. Like most musicians, I just wanted to record something that could distract people and make them forget all that’s going on in the world. I wanted it to take people away, not lock them down further. ‘Endless Embrace’ is probably the most exotic song on the album, and there’s a lot of Arabic and Asian influences going on. There’s an Algerian influence too, from artists that I really enjoy like Khaled and Rachid Taha. Besides all the vocals and instruments I would typically use, I actually tracked darbuka and maracas on this song, too. I wanted to see how far I could take stoner metal and sludge by exploring instruments that bit further afield.”
Check out “Endless Embrace” now:
And preorder Present Serpent here.
