Exclusive Premiere: Indian Black Metal Act Demonos Herald a New World in ‘Magma Stigmata’ Video

Avant-garde, primal black metal act Demonos balance spiritual philosophies with unbridled snarls, blistering riffs and blastbeats in the music video for “Magma Stigmata,” part of the Indian project’s full-length album Anno Daemonium.

Filmmaker, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Démonos Obscurís superimposes footage of religious rituals across the realm with shots of fire, outerspace and more, coupled with a focus on him performing “Magma Stigmata” — the opening track off Anno Daemonium — along with collaborators including guitarist Rohit Raghupathy aka R.R. and drummer Ananya ‘Blastphegor’ Patil. Recorded between 2019 and 2023 between Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune, the nine-minute song is excerpted down to a six-minute version for the video.

The artist says the song deals with “the churning of a new world, a new earth” and the video aims to depict “a sense of beginnings, the now and timelessness.” There are more music videos in the works, plus a possible 30-minute film that will serve to add an extra dimension to the album’s concepts.

Anno Daemonium follows the project’s debut EP From Sacred to Profane from 2016. Demonos explains that the time taken between albums was mostly due to his commitments to film projects. Nevertheless, the visual side of the artist is very much connected to his work as a black metal artist. He hopes to leverage that, admitting that the world has become a “visual arena.” He adds, “Being a filmmaker, I adore contributing to the retinally focussed aspect, though I do believe that sound is more powerful than sight. For me, aurally representing a vision or a scene is so immersive.”

With the lineup that’s featured on the album, Demonos are working on a possible live tour with their current lineup. “Right now we are trying to understand the challenges of jamming on the cloud as we all live cities apart! A mammoth task, but the will is good, and we are keen to perform as a band and conjure the atmosphere in front of an audience in flesh and blood,” the band founder adds.

Watch the video for “Magma Stigmata” below. Stream/buy ‘Anno Daemonium’ here.