AMENRA teamed up with top fashion photographer, Willy Vanderperre, and director of photography, Nicolas Karakatsanis, the visual masterminds behind the reins of a video which features the band stripped of all but their own selves. Vanderperre has worked with a startling array of individuals, from Kate Moss to Kanye West, but his encounter with AMENRA sees both parties break formation to form a hesitant, powerful and revealing union. The video, set to “À Mon Âme,” from their most recent LP, Mass V, may not be what you have come to expect from the cult crafters of discordance, but what are AMENRA if not masters of defying expectation?
Says AMENRA’s CHVE of the collaboration; ”It is not at all like the sort of visuals we usually present; it is more a case study, or a visual interpretation of the band, a little piece of concept art, if you will. The idea they [Willy Vanderperre and director of photography Nicolas Karakatsanis] had was stripping us of everything we had – ‘what if we took it all away from them?’, ‘what if we took them from their comfort zone?’. No shadows or darkness to hide in, dark imagery, props or metaphors or symbols to use.”
He continues…”Compare it to what we sometimes or mostly do with our music – stick to the mere necessary, take a minimalistic approach of a whole. What do we really need? To create a certain ‘feeling’ of emotion. For us, it was an extremely interesting cooperation. We normally keep our guard extremely high, never give something out of our hands, to keep it as close to our skin as humanly possible – that’s exactly what they did as well, literally…It was awkward, uneasy, and very confronting for us to see, yet one of the most interesting things we did lately, and an honor for us to be working with such talented and inspiring people. ‘Under a watchtower of punishing light.’”
AMENRA will be hitting the road again, beginning next month and including plenty of festivals; including Bristol’s Temples and London’s Beyond the Redshift festivals in the UK. Watch the trailer for the Church of Ra European tour here. Mass V can be ordered at THIS LOCATION.
AMENRA Tour Dates:
4/11/2014 106 Club – Rouen, France
4/12/2014 Jubez – Karlsruhe Germany
4/13/2014 La Maroquinerie – Paris, France
4/14/2014 Confort Moderne – Poitiers, France
4/15/2014 La Dynamo – Toulouse, France
4/16/2014 Sonora – Bilbao, Spain
4/17/2014 Hard Club – Porto, Portugal
4/18/2014 Shoko – Madrid, Spain
4/19/2014 Razz3 – Barcelona, Spain
4/20/2014 Impetus Fest – Belfort, France
4/21/2014 P.M.K. – Innsbruck, Austria
4/22/2014 Posthof – Linz, Austria
4/23/2014 Lido – Berlin, Germany
4/24/2014 Proxima – Warsaw, Poland
4/25/2014 Ut Connewitz – Leipzig, Germany
4/26/2014 Young Team Fest – Metz, France
5/03/2014 Temples Festival – Bristol UK w/ Neurosis
5/10/2014 BTR Festival – London, UK w/ Cult Of Luna
6/08/2014 Vooruit – Gent, Belgium w// Cor
6/19/2014 Ekko – Utrecht, Netherlands
6/20/2014 Nieuwe Nor – Heerlen, Netherlands
6/21/2014 Neudegg Alm – Abtenau, Austria
6/22/2014 Feierwerk – Munchen, Germany
6/28/2014 Graspop – Dessel, Belgium
9/27/2014 AB – Brussels, Belgium – Afterlife Acoustic
AMENRA is also gearing up for two split releases on Consouling Sound, due for release this Summer. Each album will present an incarnation of the band, together with a sometimes surprising, but always compelling counterpart band. For a split 10″ album with Eleanora, AMENRA is offering “À mon Âme (live)” and for a split 10″ album with Treha Sektori, AMENRA decided to re-interpret “À mon Âme” and create an atmospheric ambient piece called “Trahn.” Additionally, My Proud Mountain is gearing up to release Live II — AMENRA’s second live CD and first live 2xLP — featuring live audio from their Mass V release show last year, mixed and mastered by Billy Anderson.
More news from AMENRA shall emerge in the coming months so do stay tuned.
“The band’s focus on the inherent and desolate beauty that’s found in life imbued with a painful ambience not often found within their doomed sludge style…in the clashing of tender and serene passages with intense screams and walls of noise that touch upon the actuality of life. It will hurt and terrify, but there can be salvation. 9/10″ – Metal Hammer
“Ethereal hardcore/sludge band Amenra touches on black metal, gothic folk and post-rock in the most organic of ways.” – BrooklynVegan
“The dynamics of Mass V are simply staggering.” – Rock A Rolla
“An elephantine beast of a record, whose greyness of hue is matched by its thunderous assault…Mass V portrays a band with grim gravitas that’s all their own.” – Terrorizer
“On Mass V to say they’ve surpassed themselves is an understatement. Thanks in no small part to the anguished squalls of Colin Van Eekhout’s vocals there is a truly uncomfortable and palpable sense of fear and distress, like being forced into the ominous blackness that adorns the album’s cover.” – The Quietus
“…an insurmountable peak of despair, and amongst the horror, enlightenment. Mass V was the sound of this tribe of Neurot finally marching defiantly beside those who have journeyed through silver in blood before them.” – PopMatters
“…an utterly brilliant album that not only stands as Amenra’s finest work, but that undoubtedly would (and probably does) make Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, and Co. proud to have these fine young Belgians on their roster. 5/5″ – Sputnik Music
“…a dynamically powerful return-to-form.” – Ultimate Guitar
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