photo by Garrett Price
“Fire In The Veins,” the latest single from Portland-based dark ambient/industrial noise project SCARD is currently streaming via Captured Howls. The harrowing hymn comes by way of the band’s Rusted Lock full length, set for release November 6th via Scry Recordings.
SCARD – led by one J. Huston — began in 2001 in Seattle, moving to Portland a year later. Drawing from dark ambient, power electronics, death industrial, and black noise, SCARD combines their personal origins in the forested regions of Oregon with eventual scum of city life to create a harsh, layered, and multi-faceted sound.
Notes Huston of the latest helping of the record, “‘Fire In The Veins’ came together unexpectedly after writing some beats in Live with the 808 clone, and some of my own drum samples recorded in an empty oil drum. The idea for the synth melodies really brought me back to the ‘90s when I was on a steady diet of RZA-produced albums. I wanted to capture that same menacing feel of impending conflict. For the remainder of the song, I employed several distortion units, Taurus re-amped through vintage tube amps, and a searing one-take vocal track to create this exercise in strength and discipline. Lust for power. Receive the fire. Implement destruction.”
Adds Captured Howls, “The track centers on a strangely danceable and chilly yet thick-toned electronica rhythm coursing through a haze of grating and static-textured whirs. There’s both a familiarly industrialized vibe in the song and something that feels more esoteric, as if the central perspective of the track hinges on running through trash-strewn alleyways while soaked in rain and grime — and trying to flee some kind of demented and otherworldly force. The shuddering rhythms feel grueling and soaked in viscous tension, with a decidedly angular and erratic texture to the oddly more danceable components. It’s as if more pleasant-sounding sonic ideas are getting run through a blender in real time across ‘Fire In The Veins’…”
Read more and stream SCARD’s “Fire In The Veins,” now playing at Captured Howls, at THIS LOCATION.
Rusted Lock was mixed by Fester, mastered by James Plotkin, and will see release on cassette and digital formats. For preorders, go to THIS LOCATION where first single, “Graveyard Dirt” can be streamed.
In addition to his solo endeavor, Huston is the guitarist, vocalist, and producer of the atmospheric black metal band Winter In The Blood and also appears on the avant-garde black metal ensemble L’Acephale’s Stahlhartes Gehäuse and self-titled full-lengths (2009 and 2019 respectively).
Comments Huston of his upcoming offering, “Rusted Lock contains the most seething, and incisive work since SCARD’s inception. The project is by nature experimental and includes exploratory sounds and songs but a consistent thread of death/industrial doom and black metal virulence remains consistent throughout. This latest offering was an absolutely crucial album after a very long break from any activity. Near the end of the break, I underwent a total mental reconfiguration as well as a vast expansion of studio gear. The album evolved naturally throughout the process, utilizing a dominating force of will during a period of molting. It draws upon concepts surrounding personal strength, confrontation, obsession, and the many forms of poison, violently gripping, and tearing at its prey until cold, barren detritus is rejected and abandoned.”
Over the last nineteen years, SCARD has shared stages with the likes of Sixes, Bloodyminded, Daniel Menche, Control, To End It All, The Rita, Wolf Eyes, John Wiese, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Sleeping With The Earth, Pharmakon, Dave Phillips, Sudden Infant, Consumer Electronics, and many others. SCARD has also appeared at 2007’s Black Noise Festival in Oakland, 2009’s Northeast Noise And Power Electronics Festival in Boston, 2012’s Pure Harsh Noise Worship in Portland, and 2014’s Pent Up Fest in Seattle, and many DIY venues throughout the Pacific Northwest.
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