DIE SÜNDE band formed in 2018, with members coming from different musical backgrounds (post-hardcore, post-metal, stoner-doom and post-rock). Drawing from acts like Amenra, Russian Circles, Converge, Numenorean, Oathbreaker, and Celeste, the band presents their new album “Strega”, composed in February 2021 in the midst of the pandemic crisis.
Their sound is the result of picking little aspects of their influences, from black metal to post hardcore, mixing them and creating a personal sound, spiced up with the lyrics being the representation of the “worst”. “The worst feeling, the worst situation, where you don’t recognize anymore and where the pain is bigger than the anger itself.”
“Strega” is out now via Ripcord Records, Drown Within Records, and Violence In The Veins Records.
Asked about the general meaning of “Strega”, the band explains: “It speaks of a rite aimed at the evocation of an entity not really of this world, a wise and fertile female figure who carries within herself the key to life itself, but equally strong, esoteric, and lethal to lead to purification through destruction: a plague, a forced reset of everything we know to return to a more livable reality, more connected to our roots and to nature, something more real and sustainable, to re-establish the circle, in the hope for a better future.”
A rite in three acts: EVOCATION, PURIFICATION, and CREATION.
STREGA is also a hymn to the woman in all her glory because the hope for the future is female.
She must be celebrated, glorified, valued, and protected after all these years of repression, violence, and mystification. A change is definitely needed, and change is a feminine creature.
“Although totally spontaneous, we do not believe that it was a coincidence that this project received the support and incredible contribution of four very talented women.” – admits the band.
“Beyond Charlene from Ripcord Records, who has given us her full support with her label since day one, the cover and artwork of the album are by Ikosidio, the wonderful video of Strega was directed and produced by Elide Blind and the photos accompanying the new record release are by Ilenia (mybonestothesea).
“Their involvement in the project was fundamental in creating the right atmosphere and the emotional charge of STREGA, making the entire artistic realization an extremely introspective and profound, almost mystical, process.” – comments Die Sunde.
Expounding more on the atmopsherics behind the album, the band explains: “Moments like the photo set in an abandoned house with an enormous, palpable, and real esoteric history, the video shooting in total contact with nature, depriving the characters of some of the fundamental perceptive vehicles and guided by emotion alone, the profound research on iconography and esoteric symbolism to give the right meaning to the artwork: these are experiences that have dug a deep groove in us.”
Giving more credits to their collaborators, they continue: “The involvement in the project and the support received along with that of Cristian and Annibal (Drown Within and Violence in the Veins) were of enormous importance to us and made the underlying meaning of the song even more profound and vibrant.”
Asked about the creative process behind the release, Die Sunde admit that it wasn’t easy. “The process of reaching the realization of the project has been very complex and the desire to write such an intense and meaningful song as our second job, put a certain pressure on us, which led us to live personal experiences that have definitely influenced the final result.”
“In some ways, it was a challenge for all of us from the beginning and this forced us to mature, to evolve in our way of working by perfecting the arrangement and the production part, and the vision of who we are as a band.”
What hasn’t changed, however, is the DIY approach that characterizes each of the band’s offerings.
The physical realization of the album, from the shooting and recording phase, the mixing and the mastering, to the packaging of the packages with the vinyl screen printing, the cover, and the entire merchandise was completely taken care of by the band and in particular by The Mesh, of which two of us are the founders and creators.
For extended description of the concept behind “Strega”, see the short essay below.
𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ, 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟, ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟. 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙, 𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛. 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒: 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑒.
What unites them is life and its cycle, and as such linked to Nature. As only women are able to generate it, to then look after it and protect it with wisdom and strength. Since she is linked to Nature, she can evoke forces and spirits bonded to realities that are inaccessible to us, being the holder of mystical and healing knowledge and secrets, in full control of the life cycle knowledge of Nature itself and living creatures. As a mare, she has ability to bend and destroy people’s will and life, in full control of the esoteric arts related to Paganism / Satanism, gait and features manifest to man as demonic.
An entity composed of the triad that creates life, bends and destroys it and which will regenerate its ashes to give them new life.
Hence the hymn to the need for change, to the need to return to the origins, to abandon the groundlessness, senselessness and
incorrectness of modern thought, an unsustainable thought that can only lead to destruction, annihilation. Violence calls for violence.
The only way is through the evocation of an entity, something that is not properly of this world but that contains in itself the main
characteristics suitable for purification through destruction but also capable of restoring life through it, reshaping a more sustainable
world, linked to naturalist traditions and foundations, to reconnect man to his true essence, to his true origins, to his spiritual self.
Not a simple path or without sacrifices, but ultimately necessary.
A cycle in three acts:
- Evocation: the entity is called and it manifests itself
- Purification: the plague spreads quickly and everything reaps
- Creation: the primordial slime that will bring to life is made up of the spilled blood; Nature taking back its space against humanity’s
cancer.
And the circle is restored.
Power to women, to spiritual freedom and to Nature, which have always been frowned upon, misunderstood and demonized by the
ignorance of the centuries of “evolution”, mystified, tortured, raped and repressed.
They must be glorified, listened to and protected as the only key to life itself, as the only ones capable of generating it, as the only ones
capable of creating a balance of growth and a true future for the world.
