from the official black castle records zine--
Lucidity of Agony-- Night (2015)
As the frost of winter thaws, new corpses are unearthed of Lucidity of Agony's debut album under Black Castle Records, Night. Since 2006, Lucidity of Agony have been creating soundscapes portraying themes of all things antisocial and otherworldly in their hometown of Saint Petersburg, Russia, now based in Sheffield since 2014.
Night captures themes of drugs, violence, the afterlife, and psychosis in its agonized, ghastly vocals and intense instrumentals. The distorted wails of Hell echo through each verse, creating a cacophony of otherworldly moans and shrieks, carried along by the supporting vocals of Decay and Wraith adding gentler contrasts to the wails. Electronic synths and soft piano bursts from the chaotic guitars and drums, as if a shining light in these blackened instruments. Cymbals crash in violence. Guitars distort in horror. Synths reach out a winged hand disguised in divinity.
Each layer is carefully woven to create the vision of a broken mind, broken relationships.LoA truly pushes what black metal is with its use of otherworldly soundscapes to portray an agonized mind.
Tracklist:
- agony
- ne spat'
- internal bleeding
- radiation poisoning
- mistaken identity
- where i became a tree
- night
this was a piece id truly been excited to create for a long time. those with keen eyes (or any eyes at all) may be able to recognize that i used a photo of the band obituary as my reference. i took some pose references, and picked from the colors heavily to get the same feel in my piece as the photo.
now to address the elephant in the room... peters nudity. in all my dreams of creating this piece, i never once envisioned hell being in the nude for the photo. but as i was sketching the piece (initially he would be shirtless with pants, his usual), i thought "what if his dick was out". i asked my gf, my cowriter, if that was a good idea and she said NO, so i did it. with the giggles out of the way, the purpose of the nudity is to express his raw vulnerability, not just in this photo but with his groupmates. hell is bleeding in front of them, he is naked and weak. his body is disgusting yet unfortunately human. he is like their martyred leader, stripped and left to bleed as high and mighty as peter likes to portray himself, it means a lot that he can be vulnerable with this group. so as much as i may joke about the others being disgusted by his grotesque nudity, they also share the same comfort and understanding that they are vulnerable together.
maybe i myself am thinking about it too much but i also find it important for peter, as a victim of sexual abuse and exploitation, to be portrayed in the nude without any sexual implications. his sexuality has been used against him by older women, and hes become a victim of his own hypersexuality, his body is a form of self harm. to be nude without sexuality is liberating for him, even if he doesnt know it.
this was my first real piece completed in a while. i know i completed countless other pieces but this one really captured the quality of what i once created. that being said, im still not actually content with it. the little things i am content with, i think the actual drawing and the skill of the rendering is up to par, but the way it all fits together im not content with. it needs to be colder, the coldness that brings you warmth and comfort in winter. the tree in the middle, aside from being a symbol of LoA in general, was supposed to represent the connection between johan and apollo but idk if that came across. i suppose i couldve added more roots extending to either side. i would like to do another piece with them, showing the connection between them [if i were to describe their connection: johan is the fog of a chill morning and apollo is the dead branches extending to the sky]. i wonder if any of the medications im taking kill creativity because it was really a struggle to finish this piece. as i am writing this half a month later, i do feel better in my creativity, so i only wonder if i needed to settle more. my post on instagram of this drawing is also totally bombing TOT, so that doesnt help my feelings about it.
this was the first piece i completed after being hospitalized and it symbolizes much of my feelings around the time. i dont like to intentionally vent through my art, but this truly was a personal piece. i wasnt even close to dying, but i felt everyone treat me with this gravity that i wasnt used to. and it reminded me of what ruby went through after her first overdose.
it was after a performance. she went home with alexei and they had sex and she stayed in bed with him, which he normally didnt allow. alexei fell asleep and ruby stayed awake. already using a lot that night, she used more. laying there, she felt her heart pound in ways that it hadnt before bababa- stop bababa- stop. her arm was in pain, her chest was in pain, she knew she was dying. she tried to reason with herself all the reasons why she should be okay with dying that night, the racing thoughts lulling her to sleep. when she awoke, she found herself still alive. she shuffled out of bed, with her heart a rotten sore muscle in her chest, and could only muster the words i overdosed last night to alexei and agnessa. she wasnt used to the tears and worry from agnessa, her girlfriend had learned to keep her worried to herself to make ruby more comfortable, but she couldnt hold back this time. and suddenly, everyone else knew too without her permission. dealing with all of their thoughts and opinions and worries was unbearable. she didnt know how to feel about being confronted with all this attention, pity, and existance. she'd often shuffle outside in the snow, her heart still aching, and experience the weight of existance... wondering if her near-death is truly as worrisome and pitiable as others treat it.
and so i related to that feeling at the time. feeling the eyes and the pity of everyone around me, on me. it felt so violating. for comfort, i related my experience to rubys and channeled that isolated feeling with this piece. it was august for me but i chose blues cause (not only was it december for ruby) but i find the cold comforting.