Ik maakte kennis met Blackbriar toen ze begin oktober 2019 in Utrecht het voorprogramma verzorgden voor Epica. Ze stonden toen op het punt om hun derde EP, Our Mortal Remains, uit te brengen. Ik was toen zeker gecharmeerd door hun overgave en muzikale kennis maar vond dat er nog iets ontbrak om hun koren volledig boven het kaf te laten laten uitschieten.
Het album The Cause of Shipwreck (2021) was zeker en vast een enorme stap in de juiste richting.
Momenteel is de band vol aan het werk aan hun tweede album dat A Dark Euphony zal gaan heten maar waarvoor nog geen release datum werd aangekondigd.
Een tweede video daaruit wordt nu al op ons los gelaten. Een goede keuze als u het mij vraagt want My Soul's Demise klinkt enorm veelbelovend. Met z'n opbouwende lagen is het zeker geen typisch symphonic metal song. De video is dat ergens dan weer wel maar toch ook bijzonder interessant en mooi gemaakt. Frontdame Zora Cock verpersonaliseert daarin een 'Sin Eater' en ze heeft haar huiswerk rond die historische dan wel mythologische figuren goed gemaakt.
Het lijkt erop dat dat nieuwe album alweer een volgende sprong wordt in de ontwikkeling van deze Nederlandse band. Die, bij de weg, op 9 en 11 juni op Into The Grave in Leeuwarden spelen.
Lees
Having refined their broody, mesmerising vision of gothic/symphonic metal to cinematic levels, with three EPs and a full-length album behind them, BLACKBRIAR continue to set their sails towards the future. The Netherlands based band are currently working towards their second full-length album, accompanied by long-time collaborator, Joost van den Broek. Today, the band have released a brand-new song titled 'My Soul´s Demise'.
Singer, Zora Cock about the new song:
"My Soul's Demise is a song about love and pain, where you're willing to do anything for the one you love, no matter what, even if that means that it will destroy you in the meantime. Yet sometimes you wonder, would that person do the same for you? It's inspired by the medieval practice of sin-eating, a ritual where mourning families hired a sin eater to consume their loved ones' sins. The sin eater would eat food left on the dead person's chest. The food was believed to have absorbed the deceased's lingering sins. Sin eaters were paid next to nothing for their service, they were reviled, and seen as filthy people, full of sins. Villagers even avoided looking them in the eye. I learned about the sin-eater when watching an episode of Outlander, where a sin-eating ritual got introduced.
Now it gets a bit more personal. While reading about the sin-eating ritual, and writing the lyrics, it reminded me of a story my dad once told me. A long time ago, my dad suffered from psychosis and was admitted to a psychiatric clinic. He told me a lot about his experiences, what it was like, and how his mind worked at that moment. He thought he was the devil incarnate, possessed by something dark, and he felt like everyone felt his evil presence as he walked by, everyone would flinch away from him. This made me write the bridge of the song “No one can even look me in the eye, everybody is flinching away from me as I pass by”. Somehow the story of a medieval sin-eater reminded me exactly of the way my dad explained how he felt, as if he had consumed the world’s sins and darkness.
I read about the last known sin eater of England as well, which was a very heartfelt story. His name was Richard Munslow, and he died in 1906. It is believed that the tragic loss of four of his children at very early ages that died within one week may be the reason he resurrected the macabre ritual. This made me write the song from the perspective of willing to do anything for the ones you love.
