Anticipating the release of their brilliantly ambitious sophomore album OF CAMPFIRES AND EVENING MISTS on 27th May, Black Metallers OLD CORPSE ROAD have unleashed their first single HERNE OF WINDSOR FOREST in the form of a verdant, haunting lyric video. Drawing on their interest in British tales and nature, the track summons you to Berkshire’s Windsor Woods where the antlered ghost of Herne looms.
“We chose to open the song opens with several lines from the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ by William Shakespeare, as a nod to our literary heritage. With his antlered head, Herne stands as a strong and identifiable British figure; a prime reason for selecting this legendary tale. We did not want to simply re-tell his story, but rather take an atmospheric and poetic approach as if spoken from the perspective of Herne himself, painting a serene and ethereal image of a haunted Windsor forest” – The Dreamer, Drums
The ‘Old Corpse Road’ is a bleak, barren crossing at the isolated hamlet of Swindale Head in the Lake District. Despite having a local church, there was no cemetery in the town until the 1700s, so the road was frequently used as vessel for carts to transport bodies to the nearest town with a graveyard. Fusing this macabre history, with the solitary and archaic landscape, Darlington-based quintet OLD CORPSE ROAD honour these surroundings by creating pummelling, colossal Black Metal based on English Folklore.
Following 2012’s debut album Tis Witching Hour which focussed on the dark and gothic, OF CAMPFIRES AND EVENING MISTS saw a natural progression to a more illuminating album. Initially inspired by a Wiccan gathering, OLD CORPSE ROAD use the principle of the druid rites to conjure images of gathering in the Autumnal wilderness, sharing old tales. The album is broken into 3 parts; ‘The Opening of the Circle’, where story tellers and listeners gather, ‘The Rite’ where folktales and legends, which were carefully selected by the band to suit the atmosphere of the album, are told, and lastly ‘The Closing of the Circle’, where storytellers bid farewell to those gathered.
With their own creative twist on Black Metal, OLD CORPSE ROAD are pushing the boundaries in extreme music. Tour dates are to be announced soon.
Pre-order ‘Of Campfires And Evening Mists’ now from:
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OLD CORPSE ROAD:
The Bearer: Guitars and Vocals
The Revenant : Guitars and Vocals
The Wanderer : Bass and Spoken Word
The Dreamer : Percussion and Ambience
The Watcher : Keyboards and Vocals
FACEBOOK: /OldCorpseRoad TWITTER: @OldCorpseRoad
