Black Moth. New album, new single and video
Black Moth’s new album is set to arrive. Check out the video for new single ‘Moonbow’ a taster of things to come.
Having released their first two albums via New Heavy Sounds, Black Moth will have their latest / third studio album issued viaCandlelight Records on February 23rd 2018, the result of an alliance between Candlelight and NHS.
Titled ‘Anatomical Venus’ and produced by Andy Hawkins (Hawk Eyes, Maximo Park) with Russ Russell (Napalm Death, Dimmu Borgir) handling the mix, this 10-track affair sees the Leeds / London outfit – vocalist Harriet Hyde, guitarists Jim Swainston & Federica Gialanze’, bassist Dave Vachon and drummer Dom McCready – further honing the various elements of their sound to make the hooks more barbed and the focus more collective.
Lead single ‘Moonbow’ provides the first taste of things to come; “An ode and an offering to the moon herself,” according to Hyde, the track successfully combines wide-eyed wonder with true metallic weight, the whole thing supported by a Ben Foley-directed clip that delivers from the off in both intensity and colour (Foley previously worked with BM on their spectacularly kinky ‘Looner’ clip, 2015).
What’s for sure is that ‘Anatomical Venus’ is the heaviest Black Moth album to date, taking the signature Mothic sound – a dark and heady swirl of garage rock, mind-blowin’ psychedelia and amplified over-drive – down a more targetted path, effectively opening a new chapter in a career that stretches back to an inaugural single in 2010 and a debut album, ‘The Killing Jar’, in 2012.
For ‘The Killing Jar’ and its 2014 follow-up, ‘Condemned To Hope’, the band brought in Jim Sclavunos (a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994) to handle production and mixing duties, and the results immediately connected with fans and media alike…
“Like Electric Wizard meets Band Of Skulls, in a dungeon” is one press description that sticks in the mind, with other points of reference including Black Sabbath, the Stooges, PJ Harvey, Melvins, Kyuss and Patti Smith; however, with ‘Anatomical Venus’ Black Moth are seeking to forge their own path, both musically and conceptually. The album’s name and central theme, arrived at when Hyde was introduced to the 18th century wax models of the female form employed by male surgeons to learn their craft, provides a strong platform for both the artwork and the lyrics, allowing the singer to take command and truly find her voice…
“The Anatomical Venus spoke volumes to me,” she reflects. “She embodies the male gaze, a history of men dissecting women in an attempt to understand her, reveal her magic, snuff out her unruly flame, while all the time needing her to be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to their taste. These models are not simply practical medical models for education – they are fetish objects, women stripped back as far as you can go. But there is a look of defiance in their eyes as if to say, ‘keep looking if you like. I dare you. Peel back my skin and peep behind my ribcage, you won’t find anything unless I choose to tell you’.”