Photo by Marcus Maddox

As a listen itself, “Toil (Reprise)”, the second advance preview from Knifeplay’s new album, What Is Truth?, is fucked up enough on its own if you’re using the Philly collective’s lush experimental rock atmospheres — even if they appear in desolate skylines — as a reference point. “I have made a stone so big / I cannot carry it,” repeats Tj Strohmer throughout. That’s the only lyric, and it bolds deeper the further in he takes you with him.

Surrounding him is a coarse disfiguration of that bleak beauty which has typically permeated the band’s soundscape, with heavy, rigid guitars and rhythm grinding around Strohmer’s haloing presence. He’s not entirely alone in the turmoil, however, as a soft, sinister hiss follows closely in pursuit before its melancholic sprawl doubling as temporary reprieve transcends into black metal ephemera.

As a sonic companion piece to its self-directed visuals, inspired by E. Elias Merhige’s incredibly depressing 1989 silent cult horror film, Begotten, which subjectively depicts the graphic deaths and torture of a god and Mother Earth at the hands of nomadic dwellers, all of this violence cultivated by Knifeplay resounds all the more purposefully. The deep uneasiness it leaves in its wake feels self-inflicted, as do most things humankind does to itself.

Directed by: Tj Strohmer

Knifeplay’s What Is Truth? will be released January 22nd on Double Double Whammy.