I’ve already opened the floodgates to a torrent of words about Martyrdöd’s new album List. Count yourselves lucky — I could have gone on at even greater length extolling the virtues of the album. It remains one of my personal favorite releases of this year that’s about to expire. Insofar as I’m able to create any kind of objective distance from the music despite the immense, visceral impact it has had on me, I also think it’s one of the best albums of 2016. You may now be able to imagine my excitement at the chance we’ve been given to premiere the video you’re about to see for a song from the album, “Handlöst Fallen Ängel“.
List was released by Southern Lord on November 25. The video provides an excuse for people like me to urge other people who may not yet have explored List to STOP FUCKING AROUND AND DO IT. But happily, the video is a great stand-alone combination of sights and sounds, wholly apart from the excuse it gives me to hector you about this riveting album.
For those poor lost souls who may only now be finding their way to List, “Handlöst Fallen Ängel” is a fine example of what makes it so electrifying. The song courses with vibrant energy right from the beginning and never relents. I still think of it as a kind of war anthem, with an air of mythic grandeur that surrounds it, even though it’s a fierce, fiery, blood-pumping romp. The piercing lead guitar melody still makes me think of the skirl of pipes or the wild whirling of a folk fiddle that’s about to spontaneously combust. The whole thing is a hell of a rush.
The video was made by Jimmy Johansson of Super Lino Puro Productions, and it does an excellent job showing that the boiling energy of Martyrdöd’s music communicates itself to a live crowd just as powerfully as you’d think it would. Through a multitude of viewpoints, edited to provide a strobe-like movement between them, the video makes you feel as if you were there in that club, going nuts with everyone else.
To hear more of List and to acquire it, use these links:
http://www.southernlord.com/bands/view/martyrdoed
https://martyrdoedsl.bandcamp.com/album/list
Martyrdöd on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/martyrdod/