Photo Credit: Joel Adams
Australia’s progressive music specialists Wild Thing Records recently welcomed Melbourne post-traumatic prog-death metal three piece, Growth, to their label roster. The band plan to release a trilogy of albums, through Wild Thing Records, that explore the very human aspects of connection, trauma, despair, and the fragility of hope.
The first two singles from Growth, Something Follows & Cigarette Burns, set the scene of what is to come. They see our character in a state of despair, forced to reach a decision to either collapse, or make one last push to break through. They then enter a state of reflection, do they continue to suffer and let their hell consume them?
Now with Soul Rot, a decision must be made…
Front man Luke Frizon explains; “Despair will reach a point where you no longer identify with any positive solution. Ideals of safety and opportunity feel beyond alien, they’re mocking you as they dance out of grasp. It feels like closure only exists in the space where life doesn’t. Images of a hopeless end, once flickering and nightmarish, coalesce and call invitingly to your mind’s eye.
Our character in this story has heard such a call and is falling in love with the promise of release it brings. The sense of control over their fate is back, horribly within reach. Paralysed with fear, trapped, embittered and alone, they look fondly towards the end even as it stretches hungrily towards them…”
Watch the incredible video, directed by Adrian Goleby of Caligula’s Horse, here:
Luke says of the video: “Soul Rot is such a pivotal point in the album, sound and theme-wise, that we really wanted you to see how this can appear and feel. The video almost wasn’t made due to the heavier lockdowns in Victoria we were under.
Enter Adrian Goleby to save the day. We tasked Adrian with this video up in Brisbane, and he and his team smashed it! Psychosis, Mark Rothko colour schemes, Kubrick, kabuki theatre (look at the eyes); we jammed a chaotic mix of influences in there. There are also several hidden references to the Cigarette Burns video. Ed did a fantastic job as our lead man too. While I’m sad he didn’t drink the motor oil I recommended, the waterboarding more than made up for it. Seeing that last sentence typed out on the screen gets me thinking that people should really stop asking for my artistic recommendations.“”
Growth: Facebook