Budapest emotional hardcore band SATELLES are back to our pages with a bang! Tonight, we’re giving you a special premiere of the band’s 2 hot singles, both fueled by political thoughts from their Eastern-European perspective. “The Dividing Line” undertakes the issue of the autocracy of the Orban / Lukasenka regimes, and “History Prevails” is about faking history through statues in Hungary, inspired by this incident. Hear both new tracks and see the band’s commentary below.
3AM Confessions marks the band’s third full-length, the most diverse one, inspired by melodic hardcore (Sinking Ships or Modern Life is War), screamo (Majority Rule, State Faults), as well as SATELLES‘ Eastern-European heritage ranging from folklore to blues. The album was recorded by Máté Gál at RH Stúdió (Middlemist Red, Mordái), mixed by Markust Matzinger at Deer in the Headlights (Implore, Sixscore) and mastered by Alan Douches (West West Side Music) known for his works with the likes of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan or Touche Amore. It features artwork by aplacefortom (Chelsea Wolfe, Nothing, Russian Circles, etc.).
Comments the band: “The single contains two of our most identical songs from the album: The Dividing Line takes a stand against the totalitarian Eastern-European regimes and their illiberal way of thinking from a Platonic frameset, inspired by not only the lockdown events, but also by the resistance of our friends in Belarus.
History Prevails aims at the current Hungarian regime’s will to fake history through statues that alter the memory of Holocaust. The lyrics of this songs were based on the controversial setting of Szabadság square’s memorial that denies Hungary’s responsibility in the Holocaust and the events of the second World War. But the track itself also summarises the current Hungarian regime’s pattern on rewriting our cultural heritage in the favour of their political will.”
From the first notes of The Unsung Victim, Satelles begins laying disturbing admissions on the table again. The Budapest based hardcore/punk band opens up with their frustrations as they recount their anger, longing and searching for clarity on the songs of 3AM Confessions, the successor of 21-minutes long angst-parade full-length, Some Got Saved (2018).
Perhaps the albums’ most relatable statement is not between the lines anymore: the red, white and green artwork along with the refrain of Copper and Rust with the lines of ‘you took our colours, you took our faith’ reflects on the current political climate of the Eastern-European authoritarian leaderships and the needed spark to gather the yet apolitical young generations around a soon-to-be-enlighten spectral fire.
3AM Confessions traverses the full range of negative emotions around generational questions without any particular feeling of hope. The communal needs through these songs are resonating on a quite diverse palette, expanding Satelles’ melodic hardcore vision with post-hardcore, blues and folklore elements. At the end of the record there’s no easy way-out, although a search for a wished destination organises the album into a journey for salvation through rhetorical questions about our society. But the bands’ only answer is an uncomfortable ride on the longest Satelles full-length, mixed by Markus Matzinger (Implore, Sixscore), mastered by Alan Douches (Modern Life Is War, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan).
A brief showcase of the drawings by aplacefortom:
