Video Premiere: Semuta – ‘Glacial Erratic’

Photo: James Rexroad

Portland, Oregon-based outfit Semuta have a new album, Glacial Erratic, coming out on May 24 and Decibel is more than happy to spread the word by way of the band’s new music video for the title track. A duo comprised of vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Caragol (Burials) and drummer Ben Stoller (Prize Hog), Semuta play a form of progressive, melodic sludge metal that’s easy enough to imbibe and heavy enough to bang your head to.

Today, they reveal the title track to Glacial Erratic, alongside a fun music video that highlights not just the members of Semuta but other members of the Portland heavy music scene. Caragol explained how they came to work with director Shelby Kray and her ideas for the video.

“Shelby Kray is a very well known figure in the Portland music scene,”Caragol says. “For years she has been filming and editing multiple shows a week under the moniker Blue Heron Video. Almost every time you go to a show here, she is there filming. The idea for the storyline is really all her. Shelby wanted to incorporate some of the imagery in the lyrics into a series of hallucinations the main character is having. These hallucinations cause him to blunder his way through the party while ruining everyone’s good time. The concept made me think of the videos made by Helms Alee, Cave In and Red Fang, where they are having fun with it and not taking themselves too seriously. I love music videos that are entertaining, so when Shelby proposed the concept I was immediately on board. We knew we needed someone really expressive and over the top to play the role, and Jeffrey ‘Chairman’ Couch was the obvious choice. If you’ve ever seen his band Nasalrod you know how massive his performance persona can be.”

In addition to the aforementioned, members of Fatal State, Dispossessed, Inny, Toim, Stoneburner, Usnea, Armed for Apocalypse and more appear in the video for “Glacial Erratic,” making it a true celebration of the scene Semuta come from.

You can check out the video below and head to Bandcamp to pre-order.