The Deathgate Opens: Gravemind Launch New Single, 'Anaesthesia'

Cast yourself into the heavy, crushing void with the latest from Gravemind.

Last week, I wrote a piece about this mysterious website that popped up called "the deathgate", which had a timer counting down till today at midday and had some heavily slowed down looping audio that I also "cracked". Of course, it was obviously teasing a new release from an Australian band, which I also stated.

Now, in full disclosure, I admit that I wasn't completely honest with you all about who was behind this website, as when Collision Course sent me the PR for this teaser, my very first guess was Melbourne's Gravemind, which was indeed correct. You'll notice how out of the many Aussie deathcore bands I listed (some of whom shared the mysterious site themselves) Gravemind's name was omitted. That's because I knew it was, in fact, the independent Melbourne band behind this teasing project, and I left that out as I have far more integrity and respect than to leak shit early.

But enough about all that! Earlier today, the timer counted down its final seconds and Gravemind let loose 'Anaesthesia', the monstrous, riff-heavy single from their forthcoming EP, 'The Deathgate', which will enter our world on Friday, August 11th. New Gravemind and new Thy Art Is Murder a week out from one another? Jesus Christ, all of the core kids are going to shit their fucking pants!

And hey, if you thought that the band's 2016 Aztecian blood-letting single 'The Death Of Teyolia' was great (and it is), then you'd best prepare yourself for this newie.

Gravemind vocalist Dylan Gillies-Parsons talked about the reason for utilising such a campaign for the EP, saying, "We wanted to do something really unexpected of a relatively new band, by creating a lot of hype behind a mysterious website, with a simple countdown and quote ("the deathgate draws near")".

Gillies-Parsons has also stated that "This EP is about the suffering we endure, simply existing.  It is an unburdening of mainstream ideals, of destructive ideologies, the insane framework that we've created in order to feel normal."

Which is all backed up with the song's lyrics of "Born into a world that numbs the minds of man", "Never ending flow of information/we are the lost generation stuck here to feast on the safest line they offer/no wonder we feel nothing", and "Why am I so sick (it’s simple), was I this sick before? (Of course)" to name but three key lines. (The last of which may just be one of my favourite deathcore moments ever).

The deeper concept behind the deathcore sextet's upcoming EP is that of cosmic horror, following the hopeless trials that a lone astronaut faces while trapped on an alien planet and what he must do in order to survive. In what is then a rather Interstellar moment, the cosmonaut decides that he must go back to the beginning in order the change his future and to"change his mind" - whatever that exactly means. Ergo, he must go through something called The Deathgate. Someone phone Kurt Russell, quick!

Now, while myself and The Music may have figured out the secretive audio present on the site - an ominous audio log left behind by the EP's protagonist, or at least, another character in thi larger story - there was actually even more hidden away on the site that we had missed.

"We hid clues to it being us in a multitude of ways, there were a total of 3 clues hidden within an audio track on the website, including an audio log, Morse code and a link to one of our tracks hidden within the audio wave" states the vocalist in a recent statement. "We want our audience to really pay attention to what we’re trying to say. We want them to know that we stress over every tiny detail of our music, so that they can fully invest into it knowing we put meaning behind everything."

You sneaky buggers, you.

[caption id="attachment_1093700" align="alignnone" width="760"] Par Olofsson is an utter madman when it comes to his artwork, isn't he?[/caption]

All of the song's lyrics and thematic concepts were all concocted by the band's frontman, who also directed and edited the song's film clip, which you can find below. Elsewhere, the EP's instrumentals were written by the band's mastermind guitarist Damon Bredin, with all of the bass parts written by bassist Joshua Renjen. Outside of Gravemind as an entity, however, the band worked with a handful of their Melbourne peers for this release. They recorded the EP'S instrumentals with Alpha Wolf guitarist Scottie Simpson, tracked the vocals with Drown This City drummer Anthony Pallas (who used to drum in Gravemind himself), all with Lance Prenc then mixing and mastering the six-track release. As for the music video, the astronaut was played by Hamish Irvine and the "feminine" (watch the clip and read the lyrics for more on that particular character) was played by Ashton Sly.

Look, as someone who has championed Gravemind in the past (namely this and this), this new track has me genuinely hooked. This band really are one of the few deathcore acts that instil me with a real sense of hope for the genre's future. Also, this EP contains a song called 'Eschaton', which the band performed when they supported Architects back in May. In the live setting, it sounded mental. So fingers crossed that the on-record version is just as wicked!

Make your journey through the 'The Deathgate' below with Gravemind's new single, 'Anaesthesia'. You can also pre-order the new EP Bandcamp, Apple Music, or through Google Play. Hey, at least you have options for where your money goes to.

Header photo credit: James Butler.