Drenched in a red velvet gothic cape and wallowing in an blood filled bath of emo, the new single from Adelaide band Wolf and Chain is a thoroughly enjoyable dollop of theatricality and swagger, essential ingredients for a bit of cathartic and expressive glam. The accompanying video takes full advantage of this transylvanian fugue with its vampire themed bacchanalian orgy of excess and ultra violence and an enticing cliffhanger.
Singer Jack Cumes explains the meaning behind the track:
Vampires feel like such an appropriate metaphor for this concept of deadly love. Those feelings can often leave you craving them, feeling withdrawals and not sleeping at night. Often romanticised as the idea of spending eternity in love, ‘Taste of Blood’ portrays this concept with a darker tone. What appears to be a tall, dark, brooding stranger with inexplicable feelings of love is actually a bloodthirsty stalker who will do anything to have you as their own forever.
The deep rich gothicism bleeds into the new wave instrumentation, a quiet/loud ethic with strains of an Interpol/Editors spaciousness that explodes into something more shoegazy – dense and driving, circling like a wolf pack around prey.
Is there an element of self-referential knowing tongue in cheek humour (assuming the tongue can get past the fanged teeth)? Who knows. The result is just as effective whatever layered meanings you could glean from the performance. It’s a show after all, and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that.
Out through UNIFIED Music Group, ‘Taste of Blood’ is out today and can be streamed or downloaded here. You can catch Wolf and Chain live launching the single here:
Friday, August 20 – Crown & Anchor Hotel, Adelaide Tickets.
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