French electronic producer Sierra Veins releases her new full length album, In The Name of Blood – a nine-track epic that illustrates her personal evolution as she reaches into the dark corners of EBM to find her sound.
This time around, the transformation began by changing her moniker from Sierra to Sierra Veins. This marked a different era for the artist as she further explores coming of age themes such as identity, vulnerability, empowerment, and self discovery. Built with a chaotic elegance, she enhances these concepts with her sonic palette of mass destruction that unlocks the heavy pulse underneath the synthetic cacophony of electronics.
Following the success of her 2017 singles “Gone” and “Unbroken,” Sierra Veins took this opportunity to showcase an array of magical styles that vary from sinister to sensual.
To me, In The Name of Blood, reads as a “calling for answers” body of work – the kind that describes a fearless self-confrontation that displays the realism of pure anxiety while having strength. Equivocally, the soundscape captures the frustration and epiphanies with exacerbated acceleration as the mechanical wall of sounds create a layer of protection that allows the turbulent synthesis to breed vile movement.
The album title intro track, “In The Name of Blood,” sets the tone with a tunnel-dwelling, wormhole impression that acts as a caveat for the explosive weight. The track features a climatic arrangement that displays the aggressive four and the floor motif that inevitably adds penetrable action. Other songs like “Memory Cell,” and “My Poison,” uses the composition to enhance the power of her dark, angelic voice with sharp, yet emotional energy.
Sierra Veins also pushes her boundaries as the record takes different sonic turns. In the raw, broken-beat-esque track, “Who I Used to Be,” she bridges 90s funky breakbeat feels inside of industrial overtones that feels unique.
Then, she’ll pivot by delineating an ethereal environment in “The One” or “It Was Written.” Tracks that are clearly driven by thick beats, highwire synth-lines, and string arrangements that manufacture a dystopian soundscape.
In The Name of Blood is a personal novel that is meant to be digested as a whole. Each track is a window for us to see, to hear, and to feel her world as she empowers herself. Motivated by purpose, Sierra Veins makes intentional artistic choices to purge deep anxieties and demonstrates a visceral honesty. This uncut, unapologetic journey is not only a breath of fresh air, but exciting. This record is a must listen – actually, it’s a “must listen fucking loudly,”
