As bassist of prog legends OPETH, Martin Mendez has gained world-wide popularity and now he returns with another virtuous death metal crusher that captures the fear, loss of control and despair of lockdown in eight new tracks. For Dancing Into Oblivion, his project WHITE STONES goes further down the path of progressive extreme metal with haunting growls, jazz induced intermezzi and an incredible level of technical perfection.
Today, WHITE STONES reveal their second single including a lyric video clip for the song ‘New Age Of Dark‘. Dominated by a threatening atmosphere of fear and isolation, ‘New Age Of Dark’ was written during lockdown and captures all the despair and feeling of suffocation that we all know way too well since Covid started.
CHECK OUT OUR INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN MENDEZ HERE
After the release of »Kuarahy« concurred with the blast of the worldwide pandemic and all the consequences it has generated, WHITE STONES – Martín Mendez’s project (OPETH’s bass player) – are ready to launch their second record.
When WHITE STONES released »Kuarahy« they became the first Spanish band signed to Nuclear Blast Records, cementing their first album as an unprecedented milestone. Now, with »Dancing Into Oblivion«, the band returns with a more compact sound, having been hard at work ensuring the utmost attention to every detail for a result that is even better than the first record.
The topics covered on this second album draw on the feelings that Martín himself affirms he has lived through during the lockdown imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. “I started it very calmed in March when »Kuarahy« was released and the lockdown started. I wrote the new record and it just flowed so well. It’s my point of view, of the feelings I had during the lockdown period, in this weird year. I took advantage of the moment and I feel excited about it”, reveals the musician.
The emotional ups and downs that a situation like this generates are reflected on this record. As Méndez says “it’s a mix of feelings during the lockdown, feelings that go from fear to uncertainty as well as going through the confusion when you don’t know about the future and you feel almost as if time has stopped. Musicians might be the last who will be back to work and we don’t have any signs of a sooner return, which makes for a huge uncertainty. I have a family and I have to take care of them. This situation creates a feeling of discomfort which you can feel on the album”, he confesses, also adding that “otherwise it’s been nice having so much time at home with the family and those small and peaceful moments are also in the music. I’ve chosen to include some interludes between the songs so there is a higher contrast and it makes it easier to appreciate the different feelings throughout”.
