IMPURE WILHELMINA are premiering the first track taken from their new album, ‘Radiation’, which has been slated for release on July 7th
Regarding the new song, IMPURE WILHELMINA comment: “We have chosen the opening track ‘Great Falls beyond Death’ of our new full-length entitled ‘Radiation’ for the first premiere. The song starts with an easy melody line and a massive guitar that both evolve into a more dark and twisted tune. The vocals grow steadily more epic until the song coalesces into its melancholic finale – evoking fatalism, fanaticism, ignorance, and the fear of death. We see it as a perfect way to start the journey towards our new album – to take-off and then fall through an uncharted musical radiation.”
IMPURE WILHELMINA are furthermore revealing artwork and track-list of ‘Radiation’, which can both be viewed below.
1. Great Falls beyond Death (4:49)
2. Sacred Fire (5:22)
3. Child (5:28)
4. Torn (4:51)
5. We Need a New Sun (6:46)
6. Meaningless Memories (6:00)
7. Bones and Heart (4:37)
8. By Ravens and Flies (6:18)
9. Murderers (5:43)
10. Race with You (6:35)
The musical amalgamation of metal and melancholia is somewhat of an oxymoron, yet the doom sub-genre is thriving exactly on the tension created by this seeming contradiction. It is therefore an easy temptation to pigeon-hole ‘Radiation’ into that category, but that would constitute a severe injustice to the sixth full-length of IMPURE WILHELMINA.
The darkness of the soul that unfolds on ‘Radiation’ is feeding from many sources. Although they originally started out on a post-core flow, the Swiss have continuously drifted to a more rock based course, on which they are staying. Their forthcoming album finds some obvious points of reference such as later KATATONIA, PARADISE LOST and TIAMAT in their ability to create sublime melodic elegance. Yet there are also more obscure undercurrents such as a fearless embrace of dissonance and raw emotionality embodied by the stylistically quite different JOY DIVISION.
IMPURE WILHELMINA have been creating music on the border between rock and metal for over 20 years. Founded by vocalist and guitarist Michael Schindl and his brother David on drums in 1996, the band from Geneva made a strong impact with their self-released debut album ‘Afraid’ (1999), which saw the Swiss being regarded on the same level with compatriots such as NOSTROMO and KNUT from the local metallic hardcore scene.
During the next years, the line-up of IMPURE WILHELMINA underwent many changes, while revolving around main composer and lyricist Michael Schindl. These creative encounters allowed the band to endlessly rethink their direction and turn each of their albums into a singular piece, while keeping a unique touch, mixing intensity, heaviness, melody and melancholy.
IMPURE WILHELMINA released a self-titled 7″ in 1996, the ‘Undressing Your Soul’ EP in 1998, a split EP with ORDEAL in 2001, and five full-lengths so far. The critically acclaimed ‘I Can’t Believe I Was Born in July’ (2003) and ‘L’amour, la mort, l’enfance perdue’ (2005) have been viewed as key albums regarding the band’s style, while ‘Prayers and Arsons’ (2008) marked a new step in their evolution with the inclusion of more rock elements.
Not resting on their laurels, IMPURE WILHELMINA generated much enthusiasm and surprise with their recently released full-length ‘Black Honey’, which was first released on vinyl in 2014 and followed by a CD in 2015. This album features more prominent and clean singing. Overall less aggressive, ‘Black Honey’ boosts emotional intensity and melodic atmospheres, while revealing multiple new facets of the band.
Over the years, IMPURE WILHELMINA have garnered an excellent reputation as a particularly strong live entity and shared stages with illustrious groups such as NEUROSIS, ENTOMBED, THE OCEAN, GOJIRA, ISIS, ZATOKREV, and KRUGER.
With ‘Radiation’, IMPURE WILHELMINA have created an album that invites the listener to explore and discover new hidden treasures with every spin. Welcome to this journey into uncharted musical lands…
Line-up
Michael Schindl: guitar, vocals
Diogo Almeida: guitar
Sebastien Dutruel: bass
Mario Togni: drums
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