(written by Islander)
Everlasting Spew Records has made yet another astounding discovery, which it will share with listeners who are eager for music that’s off the usual beaten paths and capable of making deep emotional impressions.
This time the discovery concerns a Portuguese black metal trio who call themselves Chants, and their debut album Echoes, which the label will release on November 20th. The band is a new one, having formed only last year, but Chants is led by someone with a long history in the metal underground, and he uses it as a very personal outlet “for emotional catharsis and artistic introspection”.
Today we’re delighted to help spread the news of Chants, and especially excited to premiere a lyric video for the first song to be revealed from the album — which is its title track.
The label offers this description of the album’s music:
Chants explore the fragile boundary between despair and transcendence through a deeply atmospheric approach to black metal. Blending haunting melodies, relentless intensity and a profound sense of melancholy, the band crafts immersive soundscapes shaped by loss, isolation and inner turmoil. Their music unfolds as both a personal confession and a journey through the shadows of the human condition, where anguish, resilience and fleeting beauty coexist.
We’ll also share an excerpt from an interview of Chants’ mastermind (you can find the whole thing here):
The album Echoes is deeply rooted in themes of inner conflict, existential reflection and the constant search for meaning in a world that often feels indifferent. The concept revolves around the idea that every human being carries a kind of internal abyss, a place where doubt, despair and truth coexist. The lyrics explore those spaces, trying to give a voice to emotions that are often difficult to articulate.
Another strong element behind the album is the idea of echoes from past experiences, memories and personal transformations. Throughout my life, especially after years of touring and living within the intensity of the scene, I gathered many impressions of people, places and moments that stayed with me. Echoes reflects that accumulation of experiences and the way they continue to resonate over time.
Atmospherically, the album tries to balance darkness with a sense of introspection and awareness. It is not only about despair, but also about confronting it and understanding what lies beneath it.
And now let’s turn to the song that’s the subject of this premiere.
“Echoes” does echo. Like the echoes of some past torment that left only misery in its wake, the opening notes, in tones that straddle a line between rust and shine, generate unsettling dissonance and a dismal mood. Joining that slowly pulsating and viscerally unnerving minor-key harmony, the drums and bass rumble and boom like boulders coming down in a slow-moving avalanche, and the vocals expel the words in fervent howls that are scarring to hear.
The song generates other moods as it moves through dramatically varying tempos, though how the changes affect a listener’s mood may have as much to do with you as what Chants may have intended. Though it begins as a nerve-jangling miasma of hopelessness, the song evolves, introducing sudden jolts and then exploding in a torrent of blast-beats and riffing that sears and soars, coupled with wrenching screams.
The music seems to peal, like a siren wailing in anguish, and it also becomes somewhat less dissonant and more melodic, rising high in a way that seems to express intense striving and resilience, backed by vivid drum progressions and an urgently throbbing bass. Yet the music explodes again, spitting bullets and spreading flames, and the guitars also mysteriously ring and frantically quiver at the end in ways that could be interpreted as manifesting the achievement of a mystical understanding.
It’s the kind of song that’s likely to stay with you for. along time after you hear it, and the video that accompanies it is a compendium of surreal imagery that suits the music. The words are passionate and poetically evocative rather than simple and straightforward, and they are worth pondering. They point the way toward reclaiming life’s “fervent flame” and “blazing spark” from whispers lost, dreams undone, and fated death.
CHANTS Lineup:
Ⱂ – Drums
Ⱋ – Guitars/Vocals
Ⰱ – Bass
ALBUM CREDITS: Music and Lyrics by Miguel Vanzeler. Produced by Miguel Vanzeler and Pedro Vanzeler. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Pedro Vanzeler. Additional Vocals by Rui Carneiro. Logo, Sigil and Cover Art by Belial Necroarts. Photos and Graphic Design by CHASMVISUALS.
Everlasting Spew will release Echoes on CD, cassette tape, and digital formats on November 20th; vinyl is expected in the spring of 2027. They recommend the album for fans of: Harakiri For The Sky, Uada, Gaerea, Groza.
PRE-ORDER:
https://everlastingspew.com/
https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com/album/echoes
CHANTS:
https://linktr.ee/chants_official
https://www.chants-official.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61593696013959
https://www.instagram.com/chants_official/