Danish vicious post metal trio WE ARE AMONG STORMS are back to our pages with the exclusive premiere of their new music video for new single “Clouds And Compass”, a massive, overwhelming and eerie atmosphere laced track that advertises a great follow up to their debut EP released 2 years ago. Rising from the ashes of the band Église, and featuring frontman Martin Nielskov (ex The Psyke Project), the band will release their debut full length ‘The I in We’ on February 26th release via Over The Under Records.
Mathias, the drummer from WAAS comments on both the song and the new video: “For our first single we decided to go with one of the album’s most aggressive songs which encaptures the bands’ chaotic heaviness as well as the more uplifting and serene moods. Furthermore it was the last song we wrote before recording the album which is a good testament as to how the band sounds and feels today.”
“We knew we wanted the related music video to be personal, be positive, show our love for nature and have us, the band, be in it. That’s why we asked our old friend and former bandmate (in Église) – Lars Maartensson/RÅB DRÆB DØ – to do this video for us. He is a very creative person who knows us well and we’re very proud of the product he did for us.
We’re beyond happy with the result and are more than excited to show this aesthetically pleasing video for one of my personal favourites on the album.”
𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚 ‘𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼 𝐼𝑛 𝑊𝑒’, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑝𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑜 𝑊𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦, 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙’𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑑.
We Are Among Storms is the result of three humans’ lives, experiences and choices and the debut album ‘The I in We’ is the preliminary culmination to the common journey. All three carry extensive experience as musicians over the last twenty years. From 1999-2014 vocalist Martin Nielskov was a notable personage on the Danish hardcore scene as the front man in The Psyke Project, and as the band dissolved he entered Église in which guitarist Lukas Frederiksen and drummer Mathias Thevik Ernst were members. Église disbanded in 2018 and the three wished to renew the concept of playing in a band and to create music without an all too established template for song writing. From this sentiment, We Are Among Storms emerged and already later the same year the band released its self titled debut EP. During this period, bass player Kenn Bendtsen (Hexis, Eyes) was a part of the combo but when he left, the remaining three decided to carry on as a trio and hereafter began to perform live and compose as such. New musical horizons and possibilities arose.
From its inception, the vision of the band has been to create a sound that embraces both the atmospheric and beautiful as well as the untamed and chaotic – a mature and humane metal which in an honest fashion mirrors the many facets of human life, both the positive, the negative and every aspect in between. It is this musical horizon one encounters on the debut record ‘The I in We’ which was recorded live with producer Jacob Bredahl over two weekends, before being mastered by US engineer Brad Boatright. The album’s simultaneously massive and dynamic soundscapes consist only of vocal, guitar, drums and a bratsch guesting. In its own manner, We Are Among Storms takes part in the Scandinavian sound – a nordic post metal where dynamic extremes are essential in its avantgardistic expression. Accordingly, the album is both crushingly brutal, melancholic, uplifting and at times almost carefree but always compelling in its demonstration of the band’s span in which dissonance and hopelessness exists side by side with sublime beauty and moments of contemplation – as life itself.
Through the eight compositions on ‘The I in We’ We Are Among Storms navigates us through human life and its ever changing plethora of experiences, events and emotions. Nielskov’s lyrics revolve around the theme of being human, learning in life and not least the strength we are given from the communities in which we take part – for good and bad. It is the grown up, experienced human who speaks within the lyrics. The human who acknowledges and stands by the wisdom that has been given. And this is the essential insight, that even though we carry value in ourselves and have to remain true to that self, it is still in facing the other and our relations that our full strength as humans can be unfolded. As such, we can accomplish great things but also find love, comfort and advice – with friends, with family, with children – those can show us something within ourselves. As the process of making music in a band such as We Are Among Storms demands the knowledge and skill of the individuals involved, it also calls for a common vision – but again also the will to learn the lessons, change the vision if necessary and venture where the process and life might take us. As a lighthouse on the sea, We Are Among Storms shed light on these insights on ‘The I in We’ which as such becomes a homage to life and the people who participate in shaping us and our course of life.
