Rolling Stone India Premiere: Death Metallers In Twilight’s Embrace Release New EP ‘Trembling’
The band from Poznan, Poland talk about their country’s metal scene and addressing the rise of right-wing politics on their gnashing new three-track release
In Twilight. Photo by Marcin Zuba.
As we’ve noted before, Poland’s metal circuit is just about bubbling to the top with well-acclaimed releases, from black metal acts such as MgÅ‚a and Outre to genre-defiant music by Entropia in the last year. Adding to the infernal din are death metal band In Twilight’s Embrace. After turning a few heads with their full-length album The Grim Muse last year, the five-member band have released an EP called Trembling as an accompaniment.
The EP contain two heavy-hitters ”“ “Laughing Stock, a Burning Stake” and “Into the Mouth of Madness” ”“ as well as an acoustic-punk cover of veteran Polish punk band Armia’s “Opowieść Zimowa” (”˜Winter Tale’). Says vocalist Cyprian Åakomy about the decision to release these songs separately, “Both tracks have this rocky, upbeat feeling to them while the rest of the material was composed with a bit different approach. Before we hit the studio, we agreed that it would be best to present them to people once they have known The Grim Muse.”
About the two original tracks, Åakomy says it was the first time he chose to write about a personal disillusionment about “from the very reality we experience on the everyday basis”. The vocalist explains, “I’ve seen people in their early twenties deify their careers, being nothing more than just cogs in someone else’s plans. With that comes putting their ambitions aside and a continuous erosion of relationships. They become just a piece of dead meat, ready for the vultures to come. The role of the so-called motivational speakers and coaches of all kinds in this huge hoax is undeniable. They’ve become synonymous to what I truly despise about these times.” On “Into the Mouth of Madness,” the band talks on the perceived “shift to the extreme right across the whole planet”. Â Åakomy says, “You’ve got [Presidential candidate Donald] Trump in the U.S, [anti-Islamic movement] Pegida in Germany and the far-right shift in Poland. I see very little intellectual potential on the current right, it’s all very superficial, to be honest.”
In Twilight’s Embrace are certainly part of the army that’s making metal from Poland top-notch. What’s the reason for the recent surge of fresh new extreme metal bands and what makes them different? Åakomy says, “I think it was the realization of the fact that instead of playing stuff similar to any bands from the West, we as Poles, can add our own flavor to the entire palette of extreme music. The Western influence is still very much present here but our folklore, history and mentality comes from a slightly ”“ if not very ”“ different place. While most of Europe develops in a relatively pragmatic and Enlightenment-infused spirit, we in Poland still have a strong romantic mindset. And I think this is what encouraged many bands to sing in Polish as well as to shape their own ways of expression.”
Stream ‘Trembling’ below
