We’ve been watching the new video from Australia’s soncially anarchic The Senseless, and it’s really good! The track to which the video is set, ‘Brutum Fulmen’, is taken from the new album The Buried Life, due for a (proudly) independent release this Wednesday (1 March 2017). You can watch the video in full right now, and for the curious, you can read more about this enigmatic solo project below.
The Senseless is the extreme metal solo act of Sam Bean (The Berzerker, Antichrist Imperium, ex-Mithras). Everything started back in 2004 with a bunch of demos that Sam would give out as a ‘christmas card’ to bands he’d toured with. This caught the attention of Anticulture Records in the UK who signed him. The first release In The Realm Of The Senseless came out May 2007, with production by Luke Kenny (The Berzerker), mastering by Russ Russell (Napalm Death, The Wildhearts) and guest performances by Matt Wilcock (Akercocke) and Ol Drake (Evile). A video for ‘Vacation’ was released and appeared on Kerrang! TV and MTV, and this new style of metal was dubbed Heavy Mental and Happy Metal. The response was mixed. Some of the press loved the chaotic and joyful style. Others, such as Kerrang! found it way too fast to understand.
Sam started working with Leon Macey (Mithras) on the followup album The Floating World in 2008. They parted with Anticulture Records over the label’s digital direction, and rehearsed the impossible new material for three years. Recording was with Leon on drums as well as production duties and Sam doing everything else, with another guest appearance from Matt Wilcock and Ol Drake. The album was released independently and needless to say, the response was similar to the previous release: half the metal scene went WTF, and the other half loved it.
The Buried Life is the the third release by The Senseless. Since the previous album, Sam has moved from the UK back to Australia, then from Adelaide to Melbourne. This time, he decided to do an album completely on his own with no guest appearances and an unknown producer: Adam Chapman from Blackdawn Studios, Sweden. This album is darker than the previous due to a number of deaths among Sam’s friends and family during recording, but still has light elements. ‘Safe Passage’ is a beautiful elegy done in the style of Bolt Thrower, and ‘Idlewild’ transforms from a blistering grind song into the most joyful black metal this side of Deafheaven. Sam shows he is still one of the most extreme musicians around with ‘Brutum Fulmen’, but also closes the album with the catchy and forgiving ‘Reclaiming Valhalla’.
The album release date is March 1st 2017 on CD, Bandcamp, and across CDBaby and all affiliated sites – and if you point your mouse in this direction you can buy it now. The Senseless is proudly independent.
