Decibel is pleased to present, “Apathetic Tongues,” a fantastic new song from crusty black metal devotees Dödsrit. The song thunders and rages like a full-on black metal assault, but contains other passages that call to mind post-rock, hardcore and post-hardcore. These flourishes allow the song to mix power and emotion, strength and vulnerability, and despair with a stubborn resolve.
According to the band’s guitarist, Georgios, the song “speaks about trying to come to terms with my depression while walking a path of self-destruction, which led me to the point where I tried to take my own life.” He goes on, being extremely frank about his experience: “I think the moment that it became clear to me that I was suicidal was when I felt like I couldn’t cope with the anguish and burden of life, as well as when the smallest details of daily life started to give me ideas on how to end it all. First I started to wonder if the balcony would be high enough, and then before I knew it, the wondering started to become longing, and the longing started to turn into actions.”
Indeed, through the song’s many tonal changes, the listener is given the dramatic depth to understand the speaker’s state of mind, “the duality I was feeling the moment I put the rope around my neck, or the moment I pushed a knife against my throat.” Georgios goes on to further describe this duality in stark terms: “Even though I didn’t want to die, I felt like it was the only way to escape the unbearable suffering. Ironically, those moments made me realize how valuable life is. It took me a long time to realize it, and I still think I’m somehow battling to really comprehend it, but something tells me that there’s so much to live for, and so much to fight for.”
He’s certainly not alone in coming to that realization, and not unique in the way he arrived there. Sometimes it takes seriously contemplating the ledge before deciding you don’t need to jump. And everything else can be taken from there, one day at a time. To that end, Georgios ends his description on a positive note: “Even in the darkest of times, when every day feels like yet another goddamn punishment, just try to move forward and search for the light in the thick cloud of smoke that smothers us, because things can and will get better.”
I’m glad he came to that conclusion, after all, we got this song out of it, along with the rest of the band’s new album.
Mortal Coil comes out on May 28 via Wolves of Hades. You can find pre-order information here.
