South Carolina blackened death metal veterans Lecherous Nocturne return today with “Metempsychosis,” their first new music since 2018’s Occultaclysmic.
Formed in Greenville in 1997, the band have spent nearly three decades operating at the particularly hostile intersection of technical death metal, black metal and outright brutality. “Metempsychosis” picks up that thread without sounding particularly interested in easing anyone back into the fold.
The song takes its title from the ancient concept of a soul passing from one body into another. Or, in guitarist Ethan Lane’s preferred formulation:
“me·tem·psy·cho·sis (mi temp′si kō′sis, -tem′-; met′əm sī-) n., pl. -ses (-sēz) [LL. < Gr. metempsychōsis < metempsychoun < meta, over (see META-) + empsychoun, to put a soul into < en, IN + psychē, soul, life: see PSYCHE] the supposed passing of the soul at death into another body, either human or animal; transmigration.”
Lecherous Nocturne work that idea directly into the composition. Lane explains that a secondary musical theme is buried beneath the opening riff, then continually reappears through different time signatures, harmonies and variations before culminating in one of the band’s rarely employed guitar solos. From there, the theme effectively dies and returns once more—harmonically inverted—as the track reaches its conclusion.
Which is a fairly cerebral architecture for something that, in practice, spends most of its runtime trying to cave your skull in.
Vocalist Zack Jeter calls “Metempsychosis” “one of the darker offerings from the new album” and “a prime example of the kind of brooding ferocity you can expect from the full release.”
Featuring members with ties to fellow South Carolina death metal institution Nile, Lecherous Nocturne remain as technically vicious as their pedigree suggests. If “Metempsychosis” represents the beginning of the band’s next incarnation, it’s an appropriately violent rebirth.
Check out the video for “Metempsychosis” below. The single is out September 2 via Arson Theory and will be available across streaming platforms.
