Chosen by DJ Monk

Our top audio-visual selection this week is cheesier than a cheddar sandwich, a glorious slice of Viking metal courtesy of the wonderfully named Brothers Of Metal, and ‘One’ which does exactly what it says on the tin.

The band describe the song as “a true Viking hymn written deep in the dark woods of Birka… A tale of lost hope, a meady and darkened mind of a long-lost forgotten hero and his struggle to get back into the light. Follow this fallen Viking in search of his true purpose and infinite strength, as he learns that this journey isn’t one you should walk alone. A tale of darkness, hope, mead and togetherness.”

Well, we can’t really say much more than that ourselves, other than click the little arrow thing and prepare to escape from the world around you for the next four minutes or so:

‘One’ is taken from the band’s second album, ‘Emblas Saga’, which is being released via AFM Records on 10 January.

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Our next selection comes from Blackpool punks Strange Bones and their enigmatic new single, ‘Napalm Uber Alles’, which is taken from their forthcoming new EP, ‘Blitz Part 2, due for release at the end of February. Vocalist Bobby Bentham describes the song as “about our reliance on algorithmic happiness and the negative effects of building ourselves cyber space utopias in the palm of our hands, a contradictory escape from bleak realities. Take it as you want. Paradise napalm über alles. Back into your dream world with Alice.” The video also heavily references the band’s background, as three of the group are brothers whose parents used to record and release punk gigs on VHS. It also comes with a warning regarding flashing imagery:

Our next choice comes from prog gods Dream Theater and this clever animated interpretation of ‘At Wit’s End’, from current album ‘Distance Over Time’, with the video extrapolating the album’s title via its clever combination of imagery:

Our final presentation this week comes from Haggard Cat, who last week dropped their new single, ‘European Hardware’, for their forthcoming second album, ‘Common Sense Holiday’, which is due for release in March. The video documents the band being kept in a concrete box for 24 hours to protest against the current political climate, as guitarist/vocalist Matt Reynolds explains:

“Just over a month ago we sealed ourselves in a concrete catacomb for 24 hours. The video itself documents the whole thing, it’s all real, we actually stayed in there for the duration and live-streamed the whole thing, it was hell! We did this to visually represent what we’re talking about in the song, in order to hopefully get a few more of you talking about how detrimental the current political path we’re on will be to every one of us (well those of us who aren’t billionaires, or millionaires working for the billionaires).”

Haggard Cat head out on the road to support The Virginmarys on four dates later this week, and then support InMe on their January run.

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