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“Raped by Darkness” is the new single from Gruesome‘s forthcoming EP, Dimensions of Horror, has made its premiere at RevolverMag.com.
Issues guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey of the latest track on deck:
‘Raped by Darkness’ is another tune that has its origins in the horror section of the video rental places that dotted the landscape of the mid-1980s like zits on a teenage metalhead’s face. When I was 9 or 10 years old, it was a never-ending ordeal to convince someone’s parent or guardian to rent R-rated, or even better, unrated, horror movies for me and my friends to watch.
Sometimes I would just browse the aisles and be captivated by the cover art for movies like Street Trash, Future Kill, and Basket Case, which I never actually got to see until much later. Despite, or maybe because of, their limited availability, I lived for gory flicks like The Toxic Avenger, Re-Animator, Hellraiser, and Evil Dead, which is what this song is based around.
In the tradition of great death metal cuts like ‘Dead by Dawn,’ and the oh-so-subtle ‘Evil Dead,’ this is an ode to Sam Raimi’s horror masterpiece, but ours is lyrically centered around one particular scene – the infamous ‘tree rape’ bit. The music is, of course, directly modeled after our raison d’etre, Death, particularly the Scream Bloody Gore era that this EP is centered around.
When I first discovered death metal, back in 1989 (you know, when dinosaurs and mullets roamed the earth), it resonated with me immediately and very specifically as the audio equivalent of all those VHS movies about the occult, deranged killers, and inter-dimensional fiends. If we’ve done our job as a band correctly, this EP should transport the listener to those days of low-budget gross-out movies and death metal demos dubbed onto blank tapes and disseminated via the postal service.
To fully appreciate the song and immerse yourself in the vibe we’re trying to create, we recommend cranking this tune on cassette via a $20 Radio Shack boom box with a Dark Angel sticker on it, while chugging cheap American beer (preferably stolen from someone’s parents) in an empty drainage ditch covered in graffiti while passing a joint of skunk weed around with your friends. Join us in some unabashed nostalgia.
Dimensions of Horror is due out May 20, 2016, on CD, LP, cassette, and digitally worldwide. Physical pre-orders via Relapse.com can be found here, and digital pre-orders via Gruesome’s official BandCamp page here.
Rock Hard \m/
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