Exclusive Premiere: Albatross Unveil Grisly New Song ‘The Neptune Murders’ With Animated Video

At the start of 2020, heavy metal band Albatross had the chance to perform their new song “The Neptune Murders” with new lead guitarist Akash Kar, at crowdfunded festival Control Alt Delete 12 in Mumbai. About a year and a half later, the song gets its studio release, opening up a new thematic narrative in the Albatross universe.

Bassist and lyricist Dr. Hex aka Riju Dasgupta says, “This is a successor to Fear From The Skies (2015 album) and I wanted a marine theme. So we came up with ‘Fear From The Sea’ and had two stories.” This grandiose, horror-inducing track led by Biprorshee Das’ signature shrieks details a follower of Neptune, the Roman god of water. The story is written from the point of view of a serial killer whom Dasgupta jokingly terms as a “Neptune bhakt.” He adds, “Some lyrics would have got us canceled, so Bipro came in and cleaned it up.”

Accompanied by an eerie, artful animated video made by Varun Panchal (from thrash metallers Carnage Inc.) and originally worked on by illustrator Vineet Sharma, the lyrics and the visuals depict a deranged man who kills women and dumps them in to the sea, as an offering to Neptune. With law enforcement authorities still trying to crack the case, a divine intervention causes the tides to turn, in more ways than one. Dasgupta says Albatross have sought an animated video for their songs for quite some time. “This was much better than I could’ve ever imagined it to be,” the bassist adds.

As it turns out, among the three marine-themed tracks that Albatross had written, “The Neptune Murders” was the easier one to record from home, owing to pandemic-related restrictions. It wasn’t exactly a cohesive process and Dasgupta points out that this is the first time he couldn’t sit in with producer Ashwin Shriyan and the band members for every recording session. But then, with home setups all rigged up, the bassist notes that the production process was “a lot more freeing” in that there wasn’t limited recording time. Kar worked with drummer Jay Thacker on the drum sound in early 2020, while co-guitarist Vigneshkumar Venkatraman wrote the bulk of the song, with the newest member adding parts.

“The Neptune Murders” follows their 2018 track “Where Do Sheep Disappear?” and up next, Dasgupta hints at a song tentatively titled “Lord Of The Sea,” which is written and yet to be recorded. “It’s a lot more complex and we can’t pull it off remotely recording it without jamming,” the bassist adds.

Watch the video for “The Neptune Murders” below. Stream the song on Spotify.