The USA-based Fourth Dominion has shared the first single, "Goetia", from its upcoming debut album, Diana's Day, set for release on 1 August via Fiadh Productions on CD, cassette, vinyl, and digitally. The album, confronting themes of queerness, feminine magick, and existentialism, is already drawing critical acclaim months ahead of the album's release.
Bassist/vocalist Meadow Wyand comments on the song: "'Goetia' is ritual magick. From its earliest form as a dark folk piece, the song uses the language of spirituality to commune with nature. The blend of heavy metal distortion, acoustic tones, and goth rock guitar lines recall Sentenced and Siouxsie & the Banshees, while the catchy jangle pop chorus reads as an occult ode to Johnny Marr. The lyrics riff on Wallace Stevens's 'Sunday Morning', taking the beauty of the natural world into the realm of the mystical. The song's appeal is ultimately transcendentalist, in that by letting the trees envelop our ego, we can understand ourselves".
"In filth, evil stands." A line from Fourth Dominion's upcoming sophomore album that proclaims songwriter Meadow Wyand's singular and novel point-of-view. An out trans frontwoman, her songs reflect queer trauma and defiance, as well as speaking to existential despair and spiritual divination. The group's emotionally dense and literate songs draw just as much from the contemplative gothic metal of Anathema and Sentenced as they do the unapologetic alternative punk of Hole and PJ Harvey. With simultaneously sombre, catchy and intricate compositions, Fourth Dominion radiates a hunger and commercial appeal beyond the confines of heavy metal to which they are rooted.
With its forthcoming mission statement, Fourth Dominion showcases its ability to rise to the top of the new wave of gothic metal, or "deathwave", as Wyand calls it. Featuring new drummer Brady Mentz and the production by Casey Ahrens-Cavallo and Tom Gerwitz, the band has Frankensteined an album of profound emotional depth and commercial readiness. "When we fight, we bash back!" is a promise to both the queer empowerment the album represents, as well as the band's uncompromising attitude for growth. Link
Diana's Day tracklist:
01. Bloodstains
02. Lilim
03. Burn the Prisons!
04. From Below
05. Goetia
06. Hill of Swords
07. Death in Fall
08. Tormenta Purgatoria
09. Her Wings
10. Casca Dreaming
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"We were outsiders, and nobody knew what the fuck was going on. We just listened to this extreme music that nobody else liked, and that made us very strong..." - Mikael Stanne
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