Canadian death / doom duo NORILSK are sharing their new music video for their recently released mini-album’s title track “Weepers of The Land”. Co-written with Longhouse‘s Joshua Cayer whom also added guest vocals, the track is about what stays behind after someone vanishes and is a nod to the expression ‘keepers of the land,’ most often used in an indigenous and/or environment-related context, while referencing a less glorious side of history.
Joshua Cayer explains: “When we were developing the concept of the track, I had just finished listening to a podcast hosted by Indigenous journalist, Connie Walker, called Missing and Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams. Aside from the obvious painful subject matter, what really struck me was the guilt expressed, and carried for all these years, by those closest to Alberta Williams – What if I answered my phone that night? What if I turned around sooner? What if. As a father of two little girls, I couldn’t begin to imagine the deep sorrow that is carried by survivors of our Indigenous women and girls that go missing, or are murdered. I tried to give voice to just a fraction of what those feelings of pain, guilt and failure might feel like to a father or a mother, with the hope of creating better awareness and empathy for the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls in our country.”
Capturing the song’s dark and heavy atmosphere, the video was directed by Erik Labossiere of Wikked Twist Films, whom was given artistic freedom to develop the concept behind its visuals. Showcasing its monumental proportions and slow pace represented both a challenge and an opportunity to transfer the epic extreme doom metal song onto the screen as Labossiere approached it from the perspective of a short movie.
Erik Labossiere comments: “When creating the video concept for “Weepers” I wanted to create a narrative that could symbolize an array of current issues and motifs. With the core message of corruption and assimilation, I wanted to tell a story that could identify with any situation of oppression and abuse. I also wanted to create characters that each themselves expressed a reaction to these issues. Some see the plight of our world and react with indifference, with silence, with reinforcement, and some push to create hope. In my opinion, there is only one monster in this video, and everyone else exists within the grey, and it is up to the viewer to reflect on this and question which role they play.”