The wait is over. After months of build-up, FERAL NATURE’s Rituals is here, packing everything the Oslo-based metallic hardcore unit stands for: raw energy, honesty, and a DIY ethos that screams authenticity.
From the intricate visuals to the blood, sweat, and tears poured into the music, this EP marks the culmination of two years of work and a definitive milestone for the band.
FERAL NATURE’s visual identity is as layered as their vicious work. Bassist Will Morris explains, “I always like hearing what the songs are really about because they mean something completely different to me. It’s not really a case of misheard lyrics, but I think the songs are open-ended enough that whatever the words mean to you, that’s what they’re about.”
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This philosophy shapes the artwork too. “We talked about what we wanted to convey and went through many iterations before we found our art direction. Our logo, initially made for our first t-shirt, has a snake skeleton with some distortion effects on it. That was a pivotal moment for landing an art direction for the band. The brief kind of landed somewhere between mysticism, honesty, the uncomfortable, and existentialism.”
FERAL NATURE thrives on eclectic influences, blending them into a wild, yet cohesive sonic assault. Will elaborates, “We all have very different and sometimes eclectic influences, but they come together in a way that gels really well. Mostly, we try to be as DIY as we can. Rob does our recording, mixing, and production stuff, and I do the band’s artwork. Everything we do is a collaborative effort. It can be really rewarding or really frustrating because we have very specific tastes and ideas.”
For guitarist and producer Rob Hamilton, Rituals represents the culmination of a clear vision. “This is definitely on the nerdier end, but production-wise, my aesthetic goals were a blend of Converge’s You Fail Me and Yautja’s The Lurch. Being my first ‘commercial’ recording and mix, I probably set the bar too high, but I had a clear vision of what I wanted us to achieve and enough experience from live sound to get it in the ballpark. Another aim was keeping everything real—natural drum sounds, recording loud amps. I hope the grittier sonic signature of this EP is instantly recognizable.”
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Drummer Mathias Myren reflects on the two-year journey: “We tracked the drums for the EP during Christmas ’21 and went through a lot of line-up changes from then until now. Although the process has been long and trying, we’ve come out the other end with a hunger to write and a vicious thirst for playing live.”
2024 has been monumental for FERAL NATURE.
Vocalist Selma Bahner highlights a unique live moment: “I really enjoyed seeing Karavan live recently; the band captured the crowd and brought them to barren, wind-ridden landscapes meeting thoughts about the universe and its complexity.” On a lighter note, she shares, “Another musical highlight for me this year was actually Rob and his wife’s wedding gig with our friends in Cult Member and Barren Womb. There’s nothing better than celebrating love with a circle pit in a suit and wedding dress!”
For Rob, the hardcore scene has had plenty to celebrate. “I’m especially proud to see Speed representing Australian HC on the global stage. In the Scandinavian neighbourhood, I’m super stoked on New Money, which is a new project from Christian that used to be in LLNN. They dropped an insane record this year and I’m looking forward to catching them in Oslo soon with Kollapse (another sick Danish band that dropped a killer album this year).”
Will and Mathias both highlight EYES’ unforgettable performance at the Høstsabbat Festival. Will recalls, “They started the first-ever mosh pit in the church venue. Selma did guest vocals for ‘Tearjerker,’ and Rob hurt his arm stage diving, so he had to wear an elbow support when we played our set the next day.” Mathias adds, “The energy and ferocity they bring to a live show is unmatched by any other act currently.”
“Rituals” Track by Track commentary
Rob: “A lot of these lyrics were written by me before the band really solidified, so this is just my take.”
01. “Light Be No More” is about devoting yourself to a seemingly lost cause. You can pour all of your life into something that will never be enough, you can be actively hurt by it, but still be inexplicably drawn to it. We’re all Sisyphus pushing our own personal boulders up that hill.
This song features vocals by Ole Rokseth from Sâver
02. “Aftermathematics” is about the human cost of war. Especially the times we’re living in, we’re not only seeing that uncensored, but having to vividly deal with it and how its chaos relates to our relative peace on the sidelines.
This song features gang vocals from a bunch of our friends in bands like Arv, Attan, Forcefed Horsehead, Okkultokrati, Reaping Flesh, Skara and Sibiir.
03. “Deja Vecu” is thematically a continuation of the previous track. It’s about our inability to learn from our mistakes, like we’re doomed to live the same moment over and over again. I hope we’ll learn our lesson one day, but I’m not holding my breath.
This song features vocals by Tony Gonzalez and Timo Silvola of Barren Womb
04. “Ex Nihilo” is a personification of death coming to claim what it’s owed. We all come from nothing and eventually return to nothing. It can be a tough truth to lock eyes with, but it’s one of the few absolute truths in this world.
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Selma: This song is an imaginative abstract visualisation of how people who act without thinking about the effect of their actions, and how it affects the world and the people around them, are feeding the dystopia and denaturalisation of how we perceive the world around us. And that it’s done by making a personification of death claiming what it’s owed, how we come from nothing and will be nothing, we are all equal in the end.
This song features synth by Siri Vestby formerly of Dwaal.
05. “Hereditary” is about generational trauma, we carry it without consent and it often informs who we are and how we interact with the world around us. The best we can do is approach each day trying to be better than what came before us.
This song features a guest BLEGH by Victor Kaas of EYES and LLNN.
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