We're beyond stoked to not only announce Ukranian black metal unit White Ward's brand new album False Light, but to also stream the first single "Leviathan." Clocking in at a gargantuan 13 minutes, "Leviathan" covers everything from furious black metal riffing to beautiful compositions laced with brass and gentle percussion.
"It was one of the first songs we started to work on for our 3rd album," said composer and guitarist Yurii Kazarian of the debut single. "This track set the mood and style for the rest of the album. I cannot remember exactly how long it took to complete this song, but I can say that its creation went through a dozen phases, a lot of variants and fixes, because we are always trying to achieve the best possible result.
"The compositional process remained the same as always: at first, I created most of the riffs, the structure & rhythm of the song, and then, together as a band, we focused on the details and introduced new ideas into different parts of the song. For me it was easy to decide that this song is the opener of the album. When I create music, I already feel and know the exact place a specific song should have on the album. Therefore, it is almost always a spontaneous process, much more than a coherent planning."
False Light takes inspiration from Intermezzo, a 1908 impressionistic novel by the Ukrainian author Mykhailo Kotsubinsky, as well as works by author Jack Kerouac and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The record explores government-sanctioned murders, imminent environmental catastrophes, police brutality, domestic abuse, the psychic emptiness of cities, falsity of modern mainstream culture and ill-effects of overconsumption.
False Light was recorded at Jenny Records, LipkyZvukoZapys and at White Ward's home studios. The record was mixed and mastered by Alex Sedin (Ghostalgy Prods), given artwork by photographer Lucas DeShazer, and designed and laid out by El Chulito. Pre-orders are available here in the US and here in the EU. False Light is also available here on Bandcamp.
