Glacial Tomb – the band featuring Khemmis frontman Ben Hutcherson and bassist David Small alongside Cult Of The Lost Cause drummer Michael Salazar – has returned with a new single "Abyssal Host" and the announcement of their first record in six years, Lightless Expanse due out September 20. Pre-orders are available here.
Speaking on the album announcement, Hutcherson comments: "Three and a half years. From the day that Dave shared the riffs that eventually became 'Worldsflesh' to the evening we approved the final mixes of Lightless Expanse with Arthur Rizik last fall, three and a half years passed. In that time, our connection to–and appreciation of–this music grew stronger as the world around us continued to collapse.
"Despite the inescapable reminders of our proximity to the apocalypse, we also experienced moments of absolute joy in those years. Those moments of light proved to be just as essential to creating this record as the feelings of dread and anger, though the influence of the latter is certainly more immediate.
"I began writing the lyrics without a clear sense of the lyrical heart of these songs; I only knew that I wanted to reflect on the nature of suffering–the suffering guaranteed to each of us from the moment we draw our first breath. As the music became more complex and as the myriad emotions we sought to invoke became more visceral, I pushed myself to write a story–or, to be more precise, a story of and about stories–that was not simply a lamentation of the horrors of consciousness.
"I wanted the lyrics to reflect the journey that the three of us have been on, both individually and collectively, as we have grown to better understand the shape of this world and our place(s) in it. I wanted to see the world through the eyes of someone or something that would see this planet for what it is. I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to just be bitter about the pain of existence; I needed to articulate just how futile humanity’s aspirations for salvation truly are and, hopefully, to find some sort of serenity in that understanding."
Of "Abyssal Host", Hutcherson adds: "'Abyssal Host' is a d-beat rager about cosmic forces beyond humankind’s comprehension. One of the central themes of the record is that we, as a species, are continually undone by our hubris yet we seem unwilling and/or unable to acknowledge the futility of control in all its forms. There is serenity in surrender, yet our species seemingly cannot help but fetishize martyrdom. What would happen if a person who doesn’t want any part of this world became host to something so grand, so divine, that they became an unwitting martyr?"
