Aptera Post “Hellbender” Video; New Single Out Today
If you’re the type who’s sensitive to flashing lights — I get a headache; I’m not mocking anyone, I promise you — you might want to forego the full six minutes of Aptera‘s video for the new single “Hellbender” below in favor of the audio stream down by the bottom of the post. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the strobe effects and bright-dark contrasts of “Hellbender” aren’t suitable to the song’s atmosphere, born largely out of darkthrash and black metal, but with an edge of psychedelia showing through in its middle.
Like Aptera‘s 2022 album, You Can’t Bury What Still Burns (review here), it is uncompromising metal born out of a honed songwriting process. It calls to mind early thrash at its root — when the tape hiss of the end product seemed to be a part of the recording itself — but takes a progressive view of genre, finding angles of attack as each part unfolds.
I do not know if “Hellbender” is a harbinger of a new Aptera album or what, but the band was on tour in Europe this past Fall still behind the 2022 release, so it seems likely that if/whenever a follow-up arrives, it too will be well supported. As in, you’ll hear about it. Some songs are made to be hammered into the listener’s consciousness.
On that merry note, enjoy the video:
Aptera, “Hellbender” official video
Music by Aptera
Video by Tekla Valy
Recording by Alexander Meurer, Stella Sesto
Mix & Master by Marcus Ferreira at @nomastersvoice1899No Master’s Voice Studio
Photos: Javier S. Sañudo
“The song Hellbender takes inspiration from the eponymous movie by Toby Poser (2021), where the Hellbenders are an all-female, matriarchal clan of supernatural beings: “a cross between a witch, a demon, and an apex predator.” Their magic is rooted in fear, particularly the fear of death, which a Hellbender absorbs when she eats a living thing.
The video was directed and shot by Finnish visual artist Tekla Valy in the woods near Berlin, partially at night during the so-called “hour of the wolf,” as referenced in the lyrics. This is the hour between night and dawn, when most people die, sleep is deepest, and nightmares feel most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are tormented by their worst anguish and when ghosts and demons are at their most powerful. It is also the hour when most babies are born.”
APTERA is
Michela Albizzati – guitar, vocals
Celia Paul – bass, vocals
Renata Helm – guitar
Sara Neidorf – drums
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