Black metal troupe Axioma hail from the cultural mecca of Cleveland, Ohio, so it’s easy to see where they find the sense of darkness and nihilism reflected on their sophomore album, Sepsis. Infusing their black metal foundation with characteristics of sludge and post-metal, Axioma build on the sound established on 2019’s Crown.
Written entirely during the pandemic, Sepsis is informed by ideas about illness, particularly sepsis and the manner of death it causes. As a first taste of the album, Axioma shares its closing track, “A New Dark Age.” Musically best described as black metal, the song contains murky undertones that amplify the feeling of darkness.
“This was the first song that was musically completed for what was to eventually become the record Sepsis,” explain Axioma. “We played it live as an instrumental a couple of times and it felt great. Then the bottom dropped out of everyone’s perception of humanity. We continued to write more music and then eventually some lyrics were yelled about. ‘A New Dark Age’ became ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’ thematically. We like to leave ideas open to interpretation, so please enjoy and/or despise our miscreant take on the state of the destruction of the human race by none other than ourselves.”
With that in mind, listen to “A New Dark Age” below. Sepsis is out June 24; pre-order now via Translation Loss.
