Following the success of their debut album “Unohdan sinut” (2021), Finnish black metal punks QWÄLEN will be releasing their second album, “Syvä Hiljaisuus”, on March 10th 2023 via Time To Kill Records.
“The closing track of the album. A song that many did not expect from Qwälen. Alliance with the dead is the end of humanity. The video is an interpretation of the song’s theme, which is translated “World fills up with the dead”, through mysticism, nature and peoples blind will to participate in all this. Video was shot in the autumn of 2022 at Hailuoto with a production team consisting of long term professionals of media-field, friends and extras”.
QWÄLEN became what it is in 2017. The band members share a passion for playing music in its various raw manifestations and their band backgrounds include Kürøishi, Nistikko, Dumathoin and Akma among many others. Punk background bleeds into the music connecting QWÄLEN’s interpretation of black metal into how the genre started decades ago. Simplicity, rawness, speed and honesty. These values were present in the beginning and the same values still hold true. Punk background especially shows live as the chaotic energy of hardcore punk clashes with the ritualistic nature of black metal.
Lyrical themes in the first album focused on self-portrayal, dealing with loss, building anew along with finding alternatives in abandonment, misanthropy and Satan. The second album ponders the sheep-like nature of humanity, the inevitability of destruction, the acceptance of being faulted and surrendering to a greater force.
The second album was recorded at Waiting Room recording studio in Tampere with Mikael Neves who has worked with the likes of Death Toll 80k and Tryer. Mikael also handled mixing duties. Mastering was done by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios. The new album reflects QWÄLEN’s vision and world more clearly than ever. Like a dirty knife. Painful and infectious.