We’re quite certain that American Independence Day—hot dogs! beer! sunburns! fireworks!—is of no consequence to Swiss black metal quintet Rorcal. So, sure, July 4 is a great day to premiere a new single, “Early Mourning,” from the outfit’s upcoming sixth full-length, Silence. You even get a bonus visualizer video to accompany the blistering track, which clocks it at an economical 3:37 seconds and is crammed full of tremolo picking, majestic riffing and sepulchral vocals. It’s a relentless track bathed in noise and distortion.
The track is the first of eight on the Swiss crew’s—Yonni Chapatte (vocals), Diogo Almeida (guitars), Jean-Philippe Schopfer (guitars/samples), Jeremy Spagnolo (bass), Ron Lahyani (drums/samples)—latest assault on the senses. Silence was recorded live at Blend Studio by Stéphane Kroug. It was edited by Jean-Philippe Schopfer at Yellow Recordings, mixed by Raphael Bovey at My Room Studio and mastered by Lad Agabekov at Caduceus Studio. It’s set for release on CD, vinyl and digitally on Sept 29 via Hummus Records. You can preorder it here.
Here’s what the band had to say about its new single:
“‘Early Mourning’ is the first track of the album and the first one we achieved back when we were writing it. It’s a short, ‘in your face’ song that gives the general color and dynamic of what is yet to come. By starting the record with this song, we cut with an old habit to begin with a progressive/atmospheric part. ‘Early Mourning’ refers to the first light of a life that will ultimately end in a complete silence, as silence is what remains when every sort of hope is definitively lost.”