July 11 — Independent thrash metal band Strike Master debuted the second single from its new album, Tangram Apocalypse, and the song’s companion lyric video over the weekend.
The band debuted its new single, ‘Black to the Future‘ and the song’s companion lyric video Saturday. The premieres came only days after the band premiered the official video for the album’s lead single, ‘Crystallized.’
The musical arrangement featured in ‘Black to the Future’ is a departure of sorts from that featured in ‘Crystallized.’ That is because where ‘Crystallized’ is a direct, up-tempo composition that wastes no time getting into its body, ‘Black to the Future’ comes across as a more contemplative composition. The thrash influences of Slayer are still just as presented in this new single as in its predecessor, but the arrangement spends more time focusing on its instrumentation over the course of its nearly five-and-a-half-minute run time than lyrics. As a matter of fact, the vocals do not add into the mix until more than a minute and a half into the song. Those moments leading into the vocals are more plodding and not as intensely straight forward as in ‘Crystallized.’
Speaking of the lyrics, no information was provided about the song’s lyrical theme in the news release announcing the premiere of the song and its video. The lyrics provided with the video come across as being rather nihilistic. The mention early on, that ‘This is the dawn of time/For the criminally insane/A mandatory march/For us who have been condemned” hints at maybe the song being about those who are on death row. That is just this critic’s interpretation. The song continues, “Mass of doom/Grew in the dark/Defying the specter of light/Unstoppable/We can’t deny/To embrace death/While we are still alive.”
The song adds in its second verse, “There’s a sorrow motion/Floating in the air/Darkened/Blackened/Ghostly dooming fluorescence/Torn to ashes/And to nothing/In the end of days/The end complete/The final conflict/The path of revelations/Has brought us to despair/No eyes should see/Nothing but black/A storm of desecration/A terminal embrace/Not where but when we are going/It’s black to the future.” All of this collectively shows the noted nihilistic content and definitely leaves the whole to audiences’ interpretation without explanation from the band.
The lyrics presented in the video are presented over two visuals, one being the halls of some sort of institution, dimly lit and the other being a tunnel of sorts. Both are shown in time lapse as the intense musical arrangement plays over the visualization, perhaps to heighten the impact of the song.
The track listing for Strike Master’s new album is noted below:
TANGRAM APOCALYPSE Tracklist:
Crystallized
Here Comes the Incubus
We die Tonight
Lost within Compass
Heavy Metal
Black to the Future
Prototype God
Save the Fire
More information on Strike Master’s new album and single is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: https://strikemaster.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strikemasterofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/strikemaster666
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