Convulse share new progressive death metal anthem, “Whirlwind”
Finnish progressive death metal band Convulse are releasing their new album Deathstar on October 30 via Transcending Records. And today, they’ve shared a new track from the album titled “Whirlwind.” It’s a heavy, roaring, melodic ripper that lives up to its name, combining a classic death metal rawness with a mesmerizing, hook-laden sensibility. True to progressive fashion, it’s a journey of a song in just five minutes, soaring through different intricate movements without losing its power.
Guitarist/vocalist Rami Jämsä says of the track, “‘Whirlwind’ was among the very first tracks we started to compose for our 5th album Deathstar. The rhythm of the song is a waltz and the main riff and B part came very naturally when we jammed together at our rehearsal studio. We had some difficulties adjusting the chorus and B part together, so we tried different approaches and various ways to find the final version. It was worth of it, because ‘Whirlwind’ is one of our favorite songs on the Deathstar album. Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits was the reference guitar sound on the middle part of the song and some can hear echoes from the Kingston Wall too.
“Lyrically, ‘Whirlwind’ is a desperate story about holy wars and nationalism. We have tried to learn to live together thousands of years and we have not learned anything. ‘Whirlwind’ is a metaphor for the cycle of evilness that we are keeping up from generation to generation. ‘Mothers milking their empty breasts, future bleeding in desert. Fathers died before they saw their seeds of life. Whirlwind, the Holy land of death. Whirlwind and moon goes around.’”
Hear Convulse’s “Whirlwind” below.
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.