Sculptured are premiering a video for their new song “Dead Wall Reveries” exclusively via Heavy Consequence. The band’s new album, The Liminal Phase, arrives August 27th.
The band is the brainchild of former Agalloch guitarist Don Anderson. Formed during his teenage years after Anderson discovered the music of Death’s Chuck Shuldiner, Sculptured released a handful of records but was put on ice in lieu of Agalloch’s success.
In 2016, Agalloch’s John Haughm parted ways with his bandmates, including Anderson, who has since revived Sculptured alongside vocalist Marius Sjøli, bassist Jason Walton (also ex-Agalloch), keyboardist Andy Winter, and drummer Martti Hill.
Fans of Anderson and Walton’s work with Agalloch will recognize the lush guitar textures, prog-like song structure, and soaring epicness of “Dead Wall Reveries.” However, Marius holds down a cleaner, melodic vocal approach rather than harsh black-metal vocals. Though the bands traverse different artistic territory, fans of Agalloch should naturally find something immediately beguiling about the music of Sculptured.
Speaking on the song and its politically relevant music video, Anderson said “Dead Wall Reveries” is “about those artificial separations that allow us to believe we are different than others — that there exists an ‘us’ and ‘them.’”
“Walls represent the material structuring of the illusion of nations, borders, and ‘others,’” he continued. “This song and video are also interested in how walls make us behave. How walls create roles for people to play (guards, refugees, citizens, asylum seekers). And how walls trouble our identities. The experience of the border is summed up by Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldúa who writes: ‘I have so internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancels out the other and we are zero, nothing, no one. A veces no soy nada ni nadie. Pero hasta cuando no lo soy, lo soy.’”
Anderson concluded: “We require a ‘them,’ to be an ‘us.’ We require statelessness to give states meaning, immigrants for citizenship to exist. Such distinctions rob us of the understanding that we are all human.”
Pre-order Sculptured’s album The Liminal Phase on vinyl via Amazon or pre-save via streaming and digital outlets. Watch the video for “Dead Wall Reveries” below.
