“Cradle Of The Rotten, Shrine To Those Most Foul” has been set as the title to Celestial Sanctuary‘s new album. Metal Blade Records will be issuing that effort from the groove-laden British death metallers on January 22nd. With a title as lengthy as that, you can bet there’s a story behind it, as a press release spilled out the following in regards to that:
‘The story is a bastardization of the history and legends surrounding Bury St. Edmunds, drawing from centuries of local mythology, atrocities, and executions. The piercing and beheading of King Edmund, the spectral Black Shuck, the infamous Red Barn Murders, the Witch Trials, the Sunken Bells of Dunwich, the Lantern Man, and the many brutal executions that once took place throughout the region all become raw material for Celestial Sanctuary‘s twisted narrative.’
“Lashed By Chain” emerges as the lead single and is streaming below, complete with a video directed by the band’s own vocalist/guitarist Tom Cronin. He went on to speak of length about the song, the album and this new visual outing.
“This was the first song to be written for this album and an immediate statement of intent for what to expect. Tight, fast riffing, a brutal slam that jumps out of the shadows to piledrive you into oblivion and a big dual guitar solo that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Maiden tune. The lyrics follow the story of a knight who has one hand crossed with gold and riches, and the other with iron symbolizing that he’s sold his destiny to fight an unwinnable war. The theme treads the line of yearning to return to the things you love, the drive to survive, and the cruelty of false hope – being driven to survive in the most hopeless of times. Don’t be fooled… there is nothing positive about this and there is no happy ending.
Musically, we wanted to channel a tighter rhythmic sound on this record. We really wanted to push the limit of what we could do with syncopated riffs and sudden time signature changes.
We wanted to make a video that felt real, gritty and tactile. As a video producer by trade, I see a lot of videos that feel like an afterthought, so we took a considered approach with every element of the video. As I was directing and producing it myself, I felt a responsibility to make this as fucking cool as I possibly could.
We filmed it in a 9th century, deconsecrated church that was built on a burial site in England’s first city. We composed every shot of us playing meticulously and complimented that with high contrast lighting to match the colours in the animation and album artwork. We shot, graded and edited in such a way so you can feel the energy and aggression of our performance pouring out of your screen and into your face!
When it came to the animation element of the video, we purposely wanted something tangible, so we worked with Ben Amos Cooper to create visuals that compliment James Bousema’s album artwork in their own way. While they each have their own identity, the two are so undeniably entwined.”
“Cradle Of The Rotten, Shrine To Those Most Foul” track listing:
01 – “Where The Blood Flows“
02 – “Bonestorm“
03 – “They Worm Their Way In“
04 – “Cradle Of The Rotten“
05 – “Shrine To Those Most Foul“
06 – “Enter The Sanctuary“
07 – “Lashed By Chain“
08 – “A Dogged Act“
09 – “Subhuman Scum“
Pre-orders are available now through metalblade.com/celestialsanctuary. This weekend will see the band kickoff their European/UK tour opening for doom metal outfit Khemmis, playing the following cities:
10/10 Bochum, GER – Die Trompete
10/11 Hengelo, NET – Metropool
10/13 Birmingham, UK – The Flapper
10/14 Manchester, UK – The Bread Shed
10/15 London, UK – The Underworld
10/16 Portsmouth, UK – Kola
10/17 Paris, FRA – Backstage By The Mill
10/18 Liège, BEL – Desertfest
10/19 Leipzig, GER – Naumanns
10/20 Prague, CZE – Subzero
10/21 Berlin, GER – Cassiopeia
10/22 Hamburg, GER – Monkeys
