“A man wakes up in the woods and hears a mysterious voice. He meets different entities that will guide him or threaten him towards a greater knowing of himself”, explains the writer of the video Bastian Commelongue, the band’s guitar player, “It is a solitary initiation ritual that one is called to perform, in order to ascend or descend the ladder, which is a metaphor for our ever-changing paradigm. This is an exploration of the potential to transform what is carried deep in one’s heart.”
Directed by Robin Levet and Try Films, the video for The Ladder is released today on YouTube, together with a wide release of the song as a digital single to all service providers. Watch the video here:
Deathbell is a five-piece band from Toulouse, France, that create eerie and heavy fuzz-laden Doom. Having released their debut album With the Beyond in 2018 that garnered underground attention, Deathbell have been lying in wait, taking their time to craft and hone their new juggernaut A Nocturnal Crossing. Incanting her melancholic and haunting vocals, Lauren Gaynor calls through cavernous walls of funeral organ and distorted slabs of riff-witchery to shepherd A Nocturnal Crossing into a hypnotic otherworld. With morbid clanging trips of psychedelic rhythms and shadowy atmospheres, Deathbell’s brand of mystical Doom is both transcendent and sombre.
Written and recorded between 2018 and 2021 in the French Pyrenees, A Nocturnal Crossing’s lyrics reflect on the metaphysical forces of life and spiritual introspection. Recorded live in April 2021, Deathbell have summoned a demon of Occult Rock to rival the classic greats of Coven and Pentagram and modern legends such as Jex Thoth and The Devil’s Blood. For inner journeys alone, or live group ritual worship, Deathbell’s A Nocturnal Crossing works as a gateway or ticket into a wider initiation of Doom Rock’s inherent ancient power of black magic. Songs like Silent She Comes and The Ladder are anthemic, and wistful, beautiful gravestones of heavy incantation that deliver the listener into a blissful sonic salvation, with the guitar duo of Bolzan and Commelongue riffing as though oblivion depended on it. A band to watch out for, surely on the tongues and minds of those who seek out Doom Rock’s ever evolving devilish secrets, on A Nocturnal Crossing, Deathbell have concocted a very strong brew.
A Nocturnal Crossing vinyl, digital and CD available worldwide on February 25th, 2022.
Deathbell: A Nocturnal Crossing LP/CD – preorder link:
https://svartrecords.com/product/deathbell-a-nocturnal-crossing-album/
Deathbell: The Ladder digital single
https://orcd.co/22vk8de
https://www.facebook.com/DeathbellDoom
https://www.instagram.com/deathbelldoom/
“A Nocturnal Crossing” by Deathbell:
Lauren Gaynor – vocals & keys
Bastien Commelongue – guitars & keys
Frederic Bolzan – guitars
Valentin Troï – bass
Robin Draye – drums
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Recording: Ayumu Matsuo at Studio La Vache
Mixing: Jeremie Mazan
Mastering: Justin Weis at Trakworx Studio
Producer: Bastien
Cover Painting: Adam Burke at Nightjar Illustration
Logo, Sigil: Patrick Zoeller at Karmazid
Artwork, Photography: Bastien
Specials: Elise Aranguren, Simon Evangelista, Vincent Eyer, Marian Gaynor, Robin Levet
(Could be translated from Finnish)