We’ve been fortunate to make the long-distance acquaintance of a talented metal band from Costa Rica named Sight of Emptiness, and we’ve been honored to help them spread the word about their new single, “Transition”. In addition to premiering the audio version of the song itself (here), we also premiered the eye-catching animated lyric video for it (here).

Today, we’ve got one more “Transition” premiere to give you — but this one comes with a twist. Today’s feature is a brand new performance video of the band playing “Transition”. Professionally filmed and edited by Andrés Montero and Sebastian Pérez, with lots of cool split-screen shots, it’s fun to watch — and of course the song is still all kinds of badass.

The twist is that this version of the song is purely instrumental — and it still works. In fact, even though only the vocals have been subtracted from the mix, it sounds almost like a new song. I hope that when the band eventually releases the single for purchase it will include both versions.

So go past the jump and watch the NCS premiere of this “Transition” video.

Lyric videos for metal songs seem to be increasing in popularity, but many of them are disappointing. They often consist of nothing more than images of an album cover or the band, with the words scrolling or fading in and out. And many times you’re better off not knowing the words. Lyrics aren’t critical to the kind of metal we listen to at NCS, because you usually can’t understand what the vocalist is singing, and they often turn out to be a forgettable distraction from the music — or worse — when you see them in print while listening.

Well, the brand new lyric video for the song “Transition” by Costa Rica’s Sight of Emptiness turns out to be a different breed of cat. This is a video well worth seeing, and we’re proud to give it an exclusive premiere.

You should already be familiar with the song — we premiered it here at NO CLEAN SINGING one week ago, and it’s damned cool. The lyric video now enhances the listening experience, creatively interpreting the lyrics through an intriguing (and ominous) animation that ends with the unfolding of the cover art for the “Transition” single, which you can see above.

The eye-catching animation was created by Andrés Montero Conde at B2crea (http://www.b2crea.com/), and it’s a kick to watch. The lyrics themselves tell the story of a rebirth, a transition and transformation of a being . . . but there’s a dark undercurrent to this story. Watch it after the jump (we recommend you take this to full-screen mode if you’re viewing it on a computer). Also after the jump, some exciting recent news about Sight of Emptiness.

From left to right: Rafa Castro (Lead Guitar), Gabriel Arias (Electronics), Eduardo Chacón (Singer), Rodrigo Chaverri (Drums), Andrés Castro (Lead Guitar), Esteban Monestel (Bass & Backing Vocals)

 
To really set the stage for this story, we have to turn back the clock two years. In January 2010, we found out about a very impressive melodic death metal band from Costa Rica named Sight of Emptiness. What got us hooked were three songs from the band’s second album, Absolution of Humanity, that were then streaming at MySpace, plus a cool video of the band performing a fourth song — and we wasted no time posting about Sight of Emptiness here.

We wrote about them again in September 2010 on the occasion of the band’s release of a video capturing their performance of the song “Burning Silence” in front of 15,000 people in San Jose, Costa Rica, when they opened for Megadeth. Since then, the band have continued to perform and to build a an international fanbase — and to write new music.

And today we’re stoked to give you the world premiere of a new Sight of Emptiness single — “Transition”. It’s a killer song — one that rolls like a blast-wave of explosive detonation from start to finish, one that hits that sweet spot where the flash of cathertic high-energy intersects with shimmering melodies. It also reflects positive growth and evolution in the band’s sound.

In addition to the song, we’ve also got a short interview with the band and another video — after the jump.

Man, time really flies. It was January 25 when we wrote a post about an unsigned band we had just discovered called Sight of Emptiness – a melodic death metal band from Costa Rica, of all places. There were then three songs from a forthcoming album streaming on the band’s MySpace page, and we liked what we heard. We also found a video of one song and put it up on our site.

Sight of Emptiness has had an eventful eight months since then. That album (the band’s second) is now out — it’s called Absolution of Humanity, and it was mastered by Jens Bogren, who has worked with the likes of Opeth, Soilwork, Bloodbath, Katatonia, Symphony X, and Amon Amarth.

Also, on May 9, Sight of Emptiness opened for Megadeth at Autodromo La Guacima in San Jose, Costa Rica, playing before 15,000 people. That must have been a huge kick in the ass for these guys, though they have previously been hand-picked by Dark Tranquillity and Amon Amarth to open for them in previous Costa Rica performances.

And in June, Sight of Emptiness won an award for “Best Metal Album” at the ACAM Awards in San Jose (ACAM is the Costa Rica equivalent of ASCAP in the U.S.).

And today they’ve released a professionally filmed and edited video of the band performing a song called “Burning Silence” at that Megadeth concert in May. It’s a cool song, the video is fun to watch, and this is a band that deserves some recognition.  The video is after the jump.  Take a look . . .

Late last year we wrote about the storm surge of new metal over the last few years. Even if you confine yourselves to bands with labels, it’s enough to swamp the average listener. And if you also consider extreme metal being churned out by unsigned bands, it’s impossible to hear everything that might actually appeal to you, even if you’re devoted to only one or two sub-genres and don’t care about the rest.

Given this state of affairs, one of the most useful things a site like this one can do is help you sift through the floodwaters and try to point out the hidden treasures that might actually change your life (or at least your week). And here at NCS, we try to give equal coverage to extreme metal from other lands.

This week we’ve been on sort of a mini world tour of metal. On Monday, we visited Greece and wrote about Gus Drax. The next day we hopped the Atlantic to visit Costa Rica and Sight of Emptiness. And today we’re jumping back across the ocean to Italy and Vomit the Soul.

The first two bands we visited this week produce metal that’s infused with melody. But if melody is what you’re after, you should continue your web-surfing right now, because you won’t find even a whisper of it in what Vomit the Soul blasts out. But if every now and then you like to have your brains scrambled by a visceral sonic assault that completely removes you from what’s going on around and within you, this is a band you should definitely check out.  (more after the jump . . .)

Sight of Emptiness plays Gothenburg-style melodic death metal. But they’re not from Sweden, or from anywhere in Europe, or even from the U.S. Sight of Emptiness hails from — of all places — Costa Rica.

Costa Rica isn’t known for its melodic death metal. In fact, until stumbling across Sight of Emptiness, we didn’t know anyone in Costa Rica played any flavor of death metal. And for that reason, we probably wouldn’t have been tempted even to listen to this band’s musical output. But what changed our minds was the news that the band’s second studio album, Absolution of Humanity, which is expected to be released late February/early March, was mastered in Sweden by Jens Bogren, who has done similar duties for the likes of Opeth, Amon Amarth, Soilwork, Bloodbath, Katatonia, and Symphony X.

The band has posted three songs from Absolution of Humanity on its MySpace page, and has released a performance video of a fourth song, “Faceless Dream.” Based on this offering, the band is definitely following the trail blazed by bands such as Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, but that’s not a bad thing.  As pathfinders go, those bands are peerless. And Sight of Emptiness has both good songwriting skills and solid musical technique, and we particularly liked the impressive vocal range of frontman Eduardo (aka “Filthy”) and the occasional touches of Spanish musical passages added to the mix.

This is some catchy, headbanging fun. The novelty of being an extreme metal band from Costa Rica may be the initial hook for these dudes, but there’s substance here, too. Sight of Emptiness is currently unsigned, but we’re wishing ‘em luck in finding a label.

Check out this video of “Faceless Dream” by Sight of Emptiness:

Sight of Emptiness – Faceless Dream from Sight of Emptiness on Vimeo.