Where the Devil’s latest single, ‘Descending Death’ is released on streaming services August 27. It is perhaps the antithesis of the band’s last outing, ‘Misery’; ramping up the tempo and the aggression to new levels of brutality.
Fusing the speed and menace of Slayer and Hatebreed with a punk attitude, ‘Descending…’ provides an entirely different sonic journey to ‘Misery’ – its main descending chromatic riff speeding on to a bruising chorus and chunky breakdown, complete with twin guitar melodies that are sure to please any discerning metal guitar fan.
Singer Ben Pennifold says, “The story behind the lyrics stemmed from a period over the last few years where it felt like two steps forward, three steps backwards, everyday. Putting in an obscene amount of time and energy to do the work that others should have been doing, whilst living with the pain of indescribable loss …putting on a brave face and telling myself I’m just fine.”
“‘Descending…’ started as a demo I wrote and fleshed out in early 2020,” says guitarist Ben Hosking. “It started with that descending intro/verse riff that I’d had on my PC for a while and built it up from there. That’s how the song got the title. I often give my demos descriptive names that match their style or influence, but Ben P took it and ran with it.
“We kind of perversely wanted this song to come out after ‘Misery’,” he continues. “We thought that was our most accessible track so far and it sat at 90bpm with that slow driving groove. Descending Death sits at 185bpm and doesn’t let up.”
With four ball-tearing tracks now circulating around the world, Where the Devil shows no signs of slowing things down. The release of ‘Descending Death’ is also accompanied by a fiery new music video, filmed and edited by Kye Smith, who also created the clip for ‘Moments of Tangency’. “Rob had been wanting to get some fire into our videos from the get go,” Hosking says. “He even had a dummy drum kit ready to burn! We’re ready to put our arses on the line to put on a good show.“