Track Premiere: Incriminating Silence – “Curse of the Clairvoyant”
At first, the seer’s visions seemed a gift: knowledge of weather patterns ensured the best crop yields, and roving armies were engaged before crossing the kingdom’s border. Her precognition, though heretical, was a major boon for the throne, and she was insulated from inquisition so long as her foresight proved accurate. When she spoke of the misshapen form growing in the queen’s womb, her fall from favor was swift. Alone in an oubliette, she sits now with no company save repeating visions of her body swaying from a scaffold.
Living in today’s USA feels like a more grotesque version of the above scenario, and the Minnesotan mages in Incriminating Silence have had enough of our leaders burying their heads in the sand. We’re excited to bring you this exclusive track premiere of “Curse of the Clairvoyant”—the prophecy foretold you would click play below.
Guitarist/vocalist Mike Barnet had the following to say about the song’s lyrics:
‘Curse of the Clairvoyant’ was written as a means to express frustration with being able to see impending disaster but not being able to take direct action or get your voice through to anyone about it. We can see the escalating police violence, the onset of fascism, the acceleration of climate disasters, but those we put in charge refuse to listen to public outcry—or worse, they are themselves the perpetrators of these horrors. Direct action is necessary, but it is made difficult for those of us who live in areas of relative isolation. Anyway, that all sucks, so I wrote this all from the perspective of a wizard who can see the future but can otherwise wield no magic because that’s more fun.
The track’s folk-tinged intro recalls the early-aughts melodeath of Insomnium with its forlorn melody, but quickly shifts tempos; not even Nostradamus could predict the thrash riffs that follow, channeling Starve for the Devil-era Arsis with their playful rhythms and technical flair. While influences as diverse as Gorod and groove metal are woven throughout the track, it never feels like patchwork; there are prog epics with fewer ideas than “Curse of the Clairvoyant” packs into its 4-minute runtime. Capped with trade-off shredding solos that would feel at home in an ’80s arena (laudatory), Incriminating Silence seems capable of peering into the past and future simultaneously, resulting in a style unbound from time.
Rite of Reflection releases October 31 through Bandcamp.
