photo by Ron Vento
From Conceptual Death Metal Act; The Third Perspective Album, Featuring An All-Star Cast, Out Now On Selfmadegod Records
AZURE EMOTE is the brainchild of vocalist Mike Hrubovcak (Monstrosity, Hypoxia, Divine Rapture) joined by guitarist Ryan Moll (Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, Total Fucking Destruction). The Third Perspective also sees drums provided Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy, Raven), bass from Kelly Conlon (Death, Pessimist, Monstrosity) who also played trumpet on “Three Six Nine,” vocals from Melissa Ferlaak (Therion, Plague Of Stars, Echoterra, Aesma Daeva), violins from Pete Johansen (Sins Of Thy Beloved, Tristania, Morgul, Sirena), and keyboards by Jonah Weingarten (Pyramaze, We Are Sentinels, Teramaze). Additional guest guitars on “Loss” are provided by Mark English (Monstrosity, Deicide), and on “Dark Realms” and “Solitary Striving” by Bob Davodian (Divine Rapture, Randall Flagg).
The powerful new video for AZURE EMOTE’s “Curse Of Life” was directed and filmed by Nader Sadek with editing and effects by Universus Art Sherbieny and additional Videography by Mike Hrubovcak. Sadek offers, “For years I’d been hoping that Mike – through our many collaborations starting as far back as 2012 – would ask me to make a video for his highly experimental and intense musical adventure. I got super lucky and got the call. Listening to the song and seeing Mike’s artwork for the album got me tripping and gave me permission to get very weird with it. The song’s eclectic nature and orchestration are mind boggling and so inspiring! I had the opportunity to shoot all over the world all the way from the US, Portugal, and Egypt. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity and the journey it took me on! Making it was such an intense experience and I got to collaborate with Universus Art Sherbiny too, who added all the amazing elements. Mike and Co.’s excitement over the final piece is the cherry on top of this crazy cake!”
Mike Hrubovcak offers a synopsis of the video, stating, “This video is inspired from the album cover art and a conceptualization of a “third perspective” in accordance with the overall theme of the album. The video is inherently personal and although open to interpretation, presents a nightmare vision of a Reptilian God-like creature residing in a deep underground cave during the later stages of planetary formation. With an act of omnipotent boldness, this creature is in the process of creating an early human prototype only to eventually destroy the effigy and then himself out of frustration. As with art in general, we often see our culture’s view of artists as tortured souls, suffering for their creations, and then destroying them in an act akin to infanticide. This video is no different in that respect as many of the props and physical artworks were purposefully burned or destroyed during the process of filming. The lyrics of the song are more of a poetic plight from the human perspective, a venting of the feelings of helplessness and hatred of life in general while coping with the anxiety, sleeplessness and general horrors of imposed existence.”
The Third Perspective was recorded and mixed by Ron Vento at Nightsky Studios (Aurora Borealis, Imperial Crystalline Entombment), mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound Studios (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Witherscape), and completed with artwork by creator Mike Hrubovcak (Visualdarkness.com), known for creating artwork for Megadeth, Six Feet Under, Avenged Sevenfold, Sinister, Grave, Mortician, Cattle Decapitation, and many more.
The Third Perspective is out now on Selfmadegod Records as a special slipcase CD in North America through Indiemerch: https://www.indiemerch.com/selfmadegod
and internationally at the label webshop: https://selfmadegod.com/shop/en_US/searchquery/azure+emote/1/phot/5?url=azure,emote
Stream the entire record, as well as a new instrumental version of the album, at Bandcamp: https://azureemote.bandcamp.com/
Categorizing AZURE EMOTE into a specific genre is a difficult task with each album and song conjuring its own unique sound. Imagine a magic cauldron of death, black and doom metal boiling with elements of avant-garde, electronic, and progressive metal. Incorporated into this melting pot is a colorful spectrum of musical styles and elements such as the addition of violins, operatic vocals, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet, flute, harmonica, maracas, and more, to produce an array of eclectic soundscapes that morph together within a barrage of pummeling metal. The band unleashes a sonic masterpiece of musical devastation; their tertiary offering is an invigorating acid trip of extreme avant-garde metal that transcends conventional boundaries. Both puzzling and poetic, the band’s elaborate music paints an abstract picture of existential nihilism. Step outside the proverbial “box” with AZURE EMOTE’s darkest and most powerful opus to date.
Band Link:
https://www.facebook.com/azureemote
Label Links:
https://www.instagram.com/selfmadegod_records/
https://soundcloud.com/selfmadegodrecords
*Thanks to Earsplit PR