Empires aren’t built in a day, they’re built in a sea of blood, and on a mound of the bones of the vanquished, the poor and pretty much anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in the way. Taking this pitiless historical theme for the latest album, cunningly titled EmpirE, Suffolk’s black metal war machine Eastern Front have built an oft-epic ode to the wages and ravages of power, land and all-round despotism.
The band are heralding its release on September 30 via Cacophonous Records with a striking video for the track The Fire Consumes. Featuring newly installed vocalist Marder seemingly about to be subjected to various executions, tied up bundles of human terror and Eastern Front themselves playing out of their various skins, its one of the most direct and in-your-face tracks on the entire opus.
“The inspiration for The Fire Consumes,” says guitarist Destroyer, “came from post-war interviews regarding how bloodlust and sadistic violence became not only common place but also enjoyable, like a fire within the blood and ‘the kill’ the only way to quench that desire. With the new album EmpirE leading directly on from Descent Into Genocide these confessions really struck an incredibly dark chord when considering the overall album concept of building an empire on foundations of blood.
“The track in fact features a quote from one such story,” Destroyer continues. “Soviet veteran Suren Mirzoyan claimed to have been ‘like a beast’ with death in his pocket, no conscience just pure bloodlust… In war these attributes are held in high regard yet at any other time they’d be seen as atrocties. Needless to say those documents regarding such self-proclaimed ‘professional sadists’ are an incredible and haunting read.”
Prepare to have your Friday afternoon winding down laid siege to and face up to the brutalities of The Fire Consumes below!
March up on Eastern Front’s Facebook page here!
And partake in the spoils of war by pre-ordering EmpirE via Cacophonous Records, iTunes or Amazon
