ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Single Review: LED BY VAJRA White Dress

White Dress
Taken from the forthcoming album: ΨΥXN (Psyche) to be released on Sliptrick Records
Video footage by Dario Monaco and Giuseppe Nappo
Video edited by Gabriele Quaranta
Video post-production by Alfonso Del Vecchio at "Visualize"
Track engineered, recorded and mastered by Gabriele Quaranta
Led By Vajra is a metalcore/progressive metal band that formed in 2011 under the name Thirsting For Revenge. Releasing their debut EP Raindrops in 2012 and their debut album Leaves In Autumn in ‘15, the Italian band recently signed with Sliptrick Records and are preparing to release their second album Psyche this year. Its first single White Dress is also a promotional video available for viewing on Sliptrick’s Youtube channel since June. At the link to the video is a blurb explaining what the song was written about. Many of you should be forewarned as it’s sensitive subject matter approached by the band with equal sensitivity. To cite a loose quote, “women who get raped… start to think they deserved what happened to them....” People who do harm to others often blame their victims since the harm they cause is such they are incapable of admitting to themselves they are capable of it. With “slut shaming” on the rise and the behavior of many people who are active on social media sites, victim blaming appears to be reaching an all-time high. Personally I never understood why musicians, authors and movie directors have always been blamed for “inciting” violence, even less so in the age of anonymous internet bashing. I was just talking to a friend about this a few hours ago. The band’s position is clear as they are co-fronted by a woman and the lyrics reflect the desire for a return to innocence after a traumatic event. It’s unclear who in the band wrote them but they are strikingly poetic and imaginative when it comes to the deep feelings they’re intended to communicate. Atena Fedele and Mariano Esposito as a vocal duo capture the struggle to be cleansed of the internal stain that resulted from said traumatic event. The transitions between clean and raw vocals indicates the confusion experienced as to dealing with something that life altering, while the setting in which the video was filmed represents the prison made of ice the lyrics describe. The songwriting and musicianship behind the vocals strives to break new ground, with staccato guitar riffs, inventive lyric recitals, a series of unanticipated time changes and a section featuring bass and keyboards appearing at a crucial moment. All this is delivered with the tightest execution you could expect to hear in metalcore. Led By Vajra is doing a lot to take the genre to the next level, so give the single and album a listen. -Dave Wolff


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