BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS are premiering their new single and music video, Hallucinative Terror, via Knotfest. Hallucinative Terror is the second track to be taken from the Christchurch, New Zealand progressive death metal group’s upcoming fourth album, Rejecting Obliteration, due out on May 19 via Prosthetic Records. The song and video, directed by Matt Evlampieff, shines a spotlight on BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS’ native country’s mental health crisis.
Speaking candidly about the track’s importance on Rejecting Obliteration, Ben Atkinson (guitar) comments: „Not a year goes by without losing someone we love to suicide. This was evident again throughout the writing, recording, and prep cycles for Rejecting Obliteration where collectively as a group we lost more friends and sadly an old band member. The thought that we will never see their faces or hear their voices again still hurts us.
„Mental Health issues are predominant here in New Zealand, especially in our city that also deals with the trauma of a city leveling Earthquake, and one of the world’s worst single person terrorist attacks.
„We are repeatedly assured that we should be reaching out when we are feeling low in mood, feeling as though we may hurt ourselves or endanger our lives. Which when we can, yes we should. But, not everyone who is feeling suicidal has that person, opportunity or capability to do so.
„The ways in which some people reach out may not be understood by their loved ones or may go unnoticed due to the subtlety of the approach. It is also really important for us all to be more proactive, be upfront with our friends and family when we notice they may not seem their usual self and ask them how they are feeling and what we can do to support them.
„The video for Hallucinative Terror is based at a funeral and shows a person who has passed away by suicide with their family and friends approaching the coffin to share their grief and ask why, pointing out that everything seemed ok. These scenes are intercut with the person seemingly alive in their coffin. They are screaming and thrashing for help as the coffin fills with water but the funeral guests are blind to this and don’t see this person’s struggles, and calls for help. The person is haunted by an older man invisible to everyone else throughout the video who represents the darker thoughts of hopelessness we can have. The video ends with the person drowning.
„The video represents that feeling of drowning in sorrow and hopelessness, that between breaths you are struggling to call out for help, to look for someone who may pull you up and no one truly hears you, or hears what you are going through.
„Hallucinative Terror has taught us that we all need to be better listeners and observers and to proactively reach out.“