TREASONDOM, a death metal/grind ensemble hailing from Transylvania, Romania, recently unveiled their latest music video, entitled “The Flesh Consumes The Mind“. The band undertook the production of the song themselves, while entrusting the mixing and mastering duties to Ben Jones, an accomplished sound engineer known for his work with esteemed acts such as Pest Control, Meth Leppard, and Endless Swarm. The track is accessible via all major streaming platforms.
TREASONDOM’s musical stylings are characterized by socially conscious lyrics that thoughtfully tackle a diverse range of issues, including class struggles, the present state of society, political subterfuge, and censorship on social media. The band’s lyrical preoccupations repeatedly return to the notion that humanity is slowly losing touch with its humanity.
To quote the band, “The song’s central motif asserts that we humans, despite our greater intelligence, are little more than driven animals guided by our instincts, physical necessities, and addictive tendencies. We have occupied this planet for hundreds of thousands of years, yet we remain unable to move beyond our primal inclinations. We consume the planet as much as our own needs consume us.”
“This song’s main theme is that we, humans, are just slightly more intelligent animals, driven by our instincts, physical needs and addictions.” – explains the band.
“We have been here on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years yet our strongest motivations are still our primal needs and they dictate our choices. No matter how developed the technology is that surrounds us, no matter how religions try to depict us as some enlightened creatures, we are still animals and we consume our planet like there is no tomorrow. You don’t have to be an anthropologist to realize that there is only one end to this and it’s not a positive one.”
The band hold the belief that music does not have to solely provide comfort, but can also serve to challenge one’s perspectives on life and society. Ideally, such music may prompt individuals to contemplate and improve their perspectives. TREASONDOM sees itself as a purveyor of protest music, using their music as a medium to expel negative emotions.
They play a blend of death metal and grindcore, paired with punk lyrics that deal with socially conscious themes, rather than explicit imagery often found in gore-focused genres.
“Most of our lyrical themes are based on social criticism, we write about subjects that we find alarming. Living in Eastern Europe you always have a huge source of inspiration for these topics: corrupt leaders, populism, overly religious hypocrisy, the church influencing the voters in favor of political parties, class struggles, crab mentality. Many care more about keeping up the false image they portray about themselves to the outside world, than about the fact that their children will have no future.” – they continue.
From a global perspective, TREASONDOM say that it appears that humanity has reached a state of mind where the value of human life has diminished and there is a gradual loss of humane qualities.
There is a growing dependency on artificial products, ranging from food to intelligence, to create uniformity. In this context, the band perceives that the population has overlooked that artificial objects are simply a facsimile of natural objects. To add to this, society today is plagued with a disturbing degree of narcissism, where the idea of being perceived as the “most awesome human being” is closely tied to materialistic consumption. The trendiest and most opulent goods are prescribed as the blueprint for leading an exemplary life. In essence, one is expected to exist and consume in line with the latest fashion trend.
Music wise, when asked about their inspirations, as their main influences, they cite 80′ and 90’s death, thrash and grindcore bands like Entombed, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Misery Index, Dying Fetus, At The Gates, Napalm Death, Nasum, Rotten Sound, Disfear.
“We also listen to a lot of hardcore and crust punk, and to some sludge/doom metal too.” – they admit. “During songwriting we don’t limit ourselves to genres or between other barriers, we follow the old-school way, we jam a lot, we throw all of our ideas in a melting pot and we repeat it until all of us are satisfied with the final result. We don’t force it, but in 90% of the cases the final thing comes out as a mixture of death metal and grindcore.”
The band’s current objective is to perform as many concerts as possible, spreading their music to as many listeners as they can. They have composed a series of new songs, many of which they have already introduced to live audiences. TREASONDOM intends to release each song individually in the near future, with plans to eventually combine them into a physical format, most likely on CD.
TREASONDOM has already begun work on their next song. Stay tuned for more of their amalgam of death metal and grindcore soon!
