Marcia: Hey! Voices of the Wind have just released a new album via Oblivion Records, our self-managed European label, and we are hyped for it hitting the US tomorrow! We haven't been that active recently, and for that, I'd like to apologise on behalf of all the members of the band. We've still been getting over Luca's decision- emotions, relationships, that sort of shit. So, because of this hiatus, we decided to give you a track-by-track preview before the album reaches the shelves. Don't call it compensation- that makes me feel like some sort of deadbeat lawyer... As a word of warning, don't expect to find too much positivity- I was coming out of drug addiction, Matt out of a failed relationship and the other guys were... Pissed, at best. Anyway, enough! Please, enjoy.





A track about isolation and the reclusive nature of loneliness, Fading was the first track written for the album, penned after Marcia overcame her heroin addiction and the loss of her long-term partner Luca Steele. Having experienced the worst kind of depression and vulnerability, the two-and-a-half minute acoustic melody was designed to be haunting, reflective of how one feels when one's world is crashing down. The song was initially intended to be an instrumental, but the lyrics, almost poetic in construction, were added as an afterthought to lend some deeper emotional weight. Retelling the story of a young girl, cut off from her family and turning to drugs to survive, Fading criticises the dispensibility of modern society and how humanity cares so little for the weakest of society.





Paradigm Lost was originally intended as a conceptual track for an upcoming album centred on the cosmos and on the complexities of astronomy. Its subject matter was written by Luca Steele before his calamitous exit from the band, but was later reworked from an eight-minute epic into a more self-contained piece that subliminally suggests delusion drawn from speculations mankind cannot understand. The song is aggressive, but with underlying melody- it takes cues from previous works of the band, choosing to mix their initial death metal assault- as on 'Echoes Are All That Remains', the band's first album- and tone down elements so as to offer a progressive edge. Finally, Matt's decision to incorporate a spoken-word passage as a precursor to the solo was taken so as to offer a slower pace to an otherwise furious deterioration of man's lack of comprehension on a stellar scale.





Marcia's hatred for the press and for the predatory nature of reporters led her to write this song in the final stages of the recording process for 'Innocence Proves Nothing', having fallen foul of scapegoating and sniping during her years in rehabilitation after her controversial attack on the American Congress during a Californian Stadium performance. The underlying metaphor is one of parasitism, of how even the most vulnerable and insecure are not safe from the predations of those obsessive in furthering their material gains. Defending herself against such a smear campaign was not an easy process- the labyrinthine bureaucracy exploited her and the lawyers she hired ended up selling her short of absolution. Thus, the song is deeply aggressive and emotional, filled with a tangible sense of disgust and repulsion for its targets.





Sounding more like a poem than a song, Ruination of a Machine was conceived to be a criticism of the bureaucracy, a condemnation of the complexities that we abhor in our lives. Targeting the mundanity and flaccid nature of life in a capitalist state, the song is reflective of the dehumanisation many suffer as they are exploited and misused. Marcia, the writer of the song, cites Franz Kafka's 'The Trial' as a key source of inspiration, as the horrific accusation and judgment of Josef K proves an analytical and pertinent take on the seditious reality of a 'normal' life. Slow in pace and structured musically as an aria, a curious subversion of the conventionally grandiose operatic genre, Ruination of a Machine veers schismatically from standardised time signatures into chaotic structures not dissimilar from Meshuggah or other djent pioneers. Such transgressions were intended to reflect the harsh unreality of human existence and its variables.





Absolution is perhaps the lightest track on the album, being both a creative divergence for the band into sub-genres such as melodic death metal and black metal elements and a heartfelt emotional catharsis for Marcia and Matt, both of which struggled during the writing process. Featuring Marcia's lyrical input on the clean vocals of the chorus, the song was intended to oust any further sorrow and misery felt by the keyboardist so as to ease her recovery from addiction and abandonment. Thus, the riffs are mainly harmonious in structure and synths feature more heavily on this track than in previous albums, marking a transgression both in maturity and in emotional solidarity. Lyrically, Absolution is a touching portrayal of a life stained by corruption and in need of redemption for its sins. It has been argued the lyrics are self-condemning.





The title track of the album is also the most brutal, its primary structure built around blast-beats and anarchic, atonal time signatures. Featuring the first riffs to be written by new lead guitarist David Haynes, Innocence Proves Nothing was a traumatic song to birth, having been the first to have been written after the band's partial collapse on their South American tour two years ago. Technically challenging and raw, the track channeled the fury and maddened depression the band members had felt after their personal battles had concluded and thus focused on the guilt of humanity in both their own destructiveness and their attitudes to the world. Unforgiving, the lyrics challenge the parasitic affinity we have for our planet and decries the nature of man in his mercilessness of aspect towards his peers and unto himself.





The seventh song of the album, and also the longest, The Paradox of Duality is an instrumental track focused on exploring soundscaping, creating several different movements ranging from light to dark. Each depicts a different emotion, drummer Kevin Coulton having cited them to be as follows: pain, fear, conflict, hatred, reconciliation, resolution and degradation. The story behind the concept is one surrounding a young couple as their relationship falls apart, each stricture being a different stage of their emotional triage. The necessity for transgression was outlined in the fact that no relationship affords any tangible stability- every one is inevitably doomed to heartache and failure, whether by death physically or the death of trust. It is this sense of absolutism the song is in attempt to convey- despite its movement into happier territories, these sections are unmercifully brief before the fast-paced riffs return alongside ferociously fast hyper-blast accompaniments.





Praise Be to the End is uncompromising in its lyrical themes, being of a largely puritan death metal structure in its attacks on religion and apocalyptic undertones. The song was written in a short space of time, it having been a desire of Marcia's to create a simple, straightforward aggressive track due to her emotional and physical weariness at the time. The brevity of Praise Be to the End encapsulates its brutality, its grindcore influences and technical arpeggio-based lines immediately and abruptly apparent. Suffice to say, it proves a blunt instrument, equipped with little progressive nous and bereft of solos and keyboard overlays. However, it is reminiscent of the arguable magnum opus of the band- 'Beyond the Land of Mists'- which sounded far rawer and more stripped down than many modern productions. Such a decision was clearly a tangible nod to long-term fans- the phrase 'Echoes are All That Remains' being included in the lyrics also constitutes a pleasant surprise.





Released as a single prior to the album's conception, Fuck Your Lives is an archetypal statement of revulsion and hatred for the self-obsession and egomania the modern world endorses. Citing consumerism and the disregard for the poor on behalf of the rich as the parasites of society, the song is vitriolic and possesses little subtlety in its address to the passionless masses and their askance for material gain above emotion and acceptance in another's heart. Marcia's collaboration with Haynes and Flint was primarily due to their shared viewpoints on capitalism and the falsity of the American dream, their collective condemnation lending to the harshness of the song and its subject matter. As a side note, the choral refrain was added post-production: the first iteration of Fuck Your Lives was far bleaker and stark, more doom than death metal and without the hemorrhaging drum patterns and poly-rhythms.





Written by Marcia and Luca before their separation, Bleak was originally intended to appear on the eponymous album 'Voices of the Wind' but was cut from the recording due to its being unfinished during post-production. Released as a single in its rough-cut form, Bleak nonetheless became a fan favorite for its aggressive refrains and balance of keyboard and synth overlays in a semblance of light and shade. Usually employed at the closure of a concert, Bleak was thus rewritten and re-recorded so as to appear on 'Innocence Proves Nothing' in a more polished format. Nothing changed aside from the tightness of the instrumental aspects, the song incorporates a poetic lyrical theme surrounding a transgression from innocence to experience, but primarily focuses on soundscaping and melody. The result is a concluding outro that belies its own emotional weight, structured as a sonata- this is enhanced by the fact it was the last song to be written in conjunction with Steele before Marcia's heroin relapse. The re-recording is thus a farewell not only to the album, but the past of the band itself.

Erich: this looks like some pretty metal stuff,here. Not hipster, pabst drinking,pseudo metal. But the good kind.

Karoliena: as if you know shit about metal.

Erich: I know acts of hate,AND Zander gray.

Karoliena: so? I date a member of acts of hate.

Erich:*fumes* I married a German! Germans are metal no matter what!

Erich: ah,the neon rabbits. Clearly the tools of the desert fox. That scummy bastard will chase you to the ends of the earth. He gives no quarter,and will even ambush you while you are on th John. Rommel will pounce out of surprisingly small places. That's why I always check the tank behind a toilet. I've sen him there no less than 12 times. See,he WANTS you to think water is the natural enemy of a desert rox,but this isn't so. It make him bigger,stronger,faster.

Erich: well...I do if find some dxm with my morning tea makes for a far more interesting day. Be it chased by long dead nazis in phantom kubelwagens, or hobnobbing with old Hollywood..wait, what were we talking about again?

Karoliena: it's sad when it happens to Someone you know..

Karoliena: urinals are weird. How the hell are you supposed to sit on them,and why would you want to be next to someone while they pee?


Erich: this floor coke....is it still there? Marcy should know nothing of good repute goes on in a public restroom. It's a small Miracle nobody whizzed on or had their way with her.