Apparently Dark Tranquillity guitarist Niklas Sundin, who is a talented visual artist in addition to being a terrific musician, directed the band’s new video, for the track “Iridium.” And, man, this is  a pretty damn fine directorial debut, no? Not only is the animation great, but it’s unique — I’ve never seen a video that looks quite like this before. Sundin should direct all the band’s videos from now on, and if I were in another band, I’d probably start pestering him to direct my video, too.

“Iridium” comes off of Dark Tranquillity’s We Are the Void, which is out on Century.

-AR

One of the most prolific artists in the metal scene is Mark Riddick. He has created a tremendous amount of art for such bands as Beneath the Massacre, The Black Dahlia Murder, Gravehill, Internal Bleeding, and hundreds of others. He could quite possibly be the Norman Rockwell of zombie art. His lavish black and white illustrations take the viewer to a twisted land of corpses, demons and intestines. But what his work does not tell you is that he is a really nice guy, who is very supportive of other artists and a devoted family man. This interview was conducted via email, and I am astounded that he got back to me so fast, especially after hearing the rundown of an average day for Riddick.

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The Latin phrase Humanae Vitae means “of human life,” and Wikipedia tells me it’s the title of “an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968.” So does “humanae” just mean “human?” My sixth grade Latin fails me, but that seems like a reasonable assumption.

In any case, “Humanae” is the title of a new song by Swedish death supergroup Laethora, and can be streamed here. It comes off the band’s new album, The Light In Which We All Burn.

I really dug Laethora’s last outing, 2007′s March of the Parasites, so I have high hopes for this one. Laethora shares a member with Dark Tranquility (guitarist Niklas Sundin), but don’t sound nearly as melodic or polished as that band; Jonatan Nordenstam’s vocals always make me think of that scene in the John Carpenter version of Village of the Damned where the dude passes out on top of his grill and and they find his charred body cooking. I don’t wanna say the band is “blackened” because that word has connotations of its own, but I do think “charred” works. Everything about this music just feels bleak and cancerous.

Check out the song here. The Light In Which We All Burn comes out April 27 on The End.

-AR