These days, promo videos often present more like mini-movies than the traditional “band playing on a soundstage with a bunch of random shit edited in” like the videos of MTV’s heyday. As bands big and small attempt to tap into their inner screenwriter and “Thriller,” too often the resulting video/visualiser appears to have a very loose connection to the track it’s representing. Or the connections and meanings are quizzical, if not bewilderingly impenetrable, because director and/or band cracked their heads open and let a bunch of stream of consciousness spill onto the screen instead of force-feeding an obvious theme or deliberate story line.
On the opposite end of this is Voraath. Hailing from North and South Carolina, they are a band who’ve combined their musical and visual sides into a silver screen-worthy, sci-fi based, death metal odyssey centered around alien contact, the devastation and degradation of the environment and humanity, rule by corporate overlords and henchmen, Primitivism vs. Futurism and, of course, lots of blood, guts and killing.
The band’s latest single is entitled “Amon the Judge” and today we premiere its cinematic video, a thematic follow-up to its predecessor, “The Barrens.” Both videos/songs are rooted in a futuristic yarn the band spun where, “we developed a planet in which 80% of the population disappears after the arrival of three extraterrestrial beings which people revere as gods. The story focuses on a group of hunters that are contracted by EOS Corporation to retrieve certain artefacts. We are 100 years into the future, so a lot has changed and corporations have taken over. While preparing for the next mission, the hunters of Harrow’s Gorge entrusted Edgar, a village elder, to keep the village safe by keeping the retrieved relic hidden. Betraying his oath, Edgar informed the militant Ostromek Corp. of the relics’ location for status and financial gain. The soldiers of Ostromek Corp. ravaged the village, murdering and plundering its resources. The song ‘Amon the Judge’ follows the hunters’ return, their trauma of loss, the brutal reprisal upon the remaining soldiers and the final judgment of Edgar. This song explored the mental complexity of trauma and under what circumstances do good people commit vicious acts.”
About the video itself, drummer and director, Joshua Ward explains: “This video is a brutal odyssey, capturing a complex cycle of trauma, betrayal, and revenge. Returning home from a daunting mission, the hunters find that their village has been ravaged by the insidious Ostromek Corporation. Realising they were betrayed by a village ally, they would bring judgment on the remaining soldiers and the betrayer. The story follows a group of hunters/mercenaries who have been tasked with retrieving otherworldly artefacts for EOS corporation, only to find that they are part of a much larger and cosmic agenda.”
And for the heck of it, and in the spirit of keeping on theme, here’s previous video, “The Barrens”:
Musically likening themselves to Septicflesh, Cattle Decapitation, and Fleshgod Apocalypse, Voraath was formed by members and ex-members of Xael, Rapheumets Well, Implosive Disgorgence Sweet Blood and Nile looking to fill their time off the road with highly conceptual, fantastical and filmic storytelling and even more death metal. The band’s debut album is in the works and until then, interested parties can check ‘em out on Bandcamp and Facebook.