(written by Islander)
Plaguewielder, those gritty bearers of black sludge from the Ohio rust belt, have recorded a new single that will eventually appear on their next album, Year Of The Plague, and we’re bringing it to you today with a suitably scary video.
The name of the song is “To the Call of My Master“, and it’s the second single Plaguewielder have released this year, following “Son of The Serpent, Son of The Whore” (premiered here). The band also released the first single from the new album last year, “Blood of the Astral Gate” (premiered here).
Lyrically, “To the Call of My Master” expresses the glorification of a vampire by the vampire’s familiar, and the familiar’s vows of obedience. Musically, the song is as fiendish as the lyrical subject matter, and as highly infectious as a vampiric plague.
It’s really a two-part song, or rather a song that includes an outro piece that creates a different kind of atmosphere. The main part of the song rocks hard, driven by burly bass throbs and compulsively muscle-moving beats. The riffing (both guitar and saxophone) also diabolically throbs and squirms, channeling a kind of hellish ecstasy, while the vocals proclaim the words in monstrous growls.
In the song’s attention-grabbing chorus (“A throne made of teeth and bone / To the call of my master I’ll follow / To the unknown”), wild singing joins the vicious growls, shimmering keys ring, and the riffing gloriously soars. As the riffing continues to pulsate and cavort, the vocals ravenously gnash, rabidly howl, and gruesomely bellow — with one more episode of that crazed chorus still to come.
The afore-mentioned outro creates a different portrayal of gothic horror, using symphonic strings, brass, and timpani, and elegant piano keys to create a mood of spooky and seductive menace.
The video is a banquet of supernatural horror from famous silent films, featuring clips from Nosferatu, Häxan, Faust, and L’Inferno. The imagery suits the fiendishness of the music very well indeed.
“To the Call of My Master” was produced by Gäj and co-produced by Bryce Seditz. Bryce Seditz performed guitars and vocals; Mitch Lawrence performed bass, keys, and saxophone; and Gäj performed drums and created the string arrangements.
The single is available now on Plaguewielder’s Bandcamp page (see the links below). Eventually, their new album will be distributed through the band’s independent new label Mourning Shroud.
We also want to share the dates in place so far for Plaguewielder live performances that begin in August and extend into November:
Aug 21st Wheeling WV @ Carin’s Bar
Aug 22nd Dublin VA @Harvest Fest
Oct 16th Cleveland OH @ No Class
Nov 20th Philadelphia PA @ TBA
Nov 21st Montclair NJ @ The Meatlocker
Nov 22nd Brooklyn NY @Lucky 13 Saloon
PLAGUEWIELDER LINKS:
https://plaguewielderoh.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/plaguewielder
https://www.facebook.com/PlaguewielderOH