(written by Islander)
Today we help introduce people to a new raw black metal band, a two-piece outfit named Zaraza born from the hills of Appalachia and the decayed streets of the Rust Belt. These two, Azara and Mictlantecuhtli, introduce their their music with these words: “Rising from holler and rust, gnawing at the marrow of time, a blasphemy against life and cosmos, summoning shadows that devour memory and light” — or more succinctly as “Appalachian darkness, Rust Belt desecration”.
In the coming spring Zaraza will release a debut EP named …And You Will Remember This Winter through So Below Productions, and what we have for you today is a video premiere of its first single, “The Yearning Mouth of the Forest“, which includes a guest vocal appearance by Mor Grish of Ofstingan/Burial Oath.
As we sometimes say around here in an effort to help unsuspecting listeners, take some deep breaths before you listen to this song and get frantically rushed through burial grounds by the video. The drums thunder; the bass maniacally clangs; the riffing sears in sky-high elevations; and the vocals scream in terrifying, throat-lacerating frenzies.
But it’s not just the intensity of the sonic onslaught that might make you catch your breath, it’s the emotional quality of the melodies that have that effect too. And yes, although it’s not wrong to call this raw black metal (especially because of the vocals), the song surges with strong melodic components which seem to channel anguish and hopelessness, torment and terror — and with lyrics that tell a supernatural tale.
The music roils and raves, piercing in its tones and sweeping in its scope, and the feverish throbs of the gritty bass and battering outbursts of the drums strengthen the signal — of madness and fear, of the closing grasp of the night.
The music was written and performed by Zaraza, and produced by Mourning Shroud. Zaraza’s EP …And You Will Remember This Winter will be released as an exclusive edition of 50 cassettes which will be available for purchase through So Below Productions’s Bandcamp (see the link below). The EP will also be available for streaming on Bandcamp and YouTube. Later today the song we’ve premiered will also be available on Bandcamp here:
https://zarazausbm.bandcamp.com/track/the-yearning-mouth-of-the-forest-ft-mor-grish
We’re including the song’s lyrics after the links.
ZARAZA:
https://zarazausbm.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/Zaraza_usbm
SO BELOW PRODUCTIONS:
https://www.instagram.com/sobelowproductions
https://sobelowproductions.bandcamp.com/artists
Bones covered in twine
Nestled in holler
The yearning mouth of the forest
Centuries of hidden knowledge
Echos heard from afar
Ancient voice in the mountains
A return to nature and calm
Hills spark imagination
In the rings of binding light
Looming shadow now appears
In the grasp of night
I feel the witch draw near
(Mor Grish)
“Souls of the lost,
voices of the holler,
Step into the shadow,
sleep in sorrow.”
In a whispering circle of bones
Possession of a shadow
The echoing path unfolds
In her voice foretold
