Texas metalcore band Charcoal Tongue drops a new music video today, “My Deeds on Display.” The song is from the band’s debut EP, entitled 24 Hours: My Deterioration, on Spinefarm Records.
According to lead vocalist Chris Mora, “‘My Deeds on Display’ is about pretending to be OK… when underneath the surface, you are harboring something deeper. With this video, we portrayed the story of my childhood and adolescent struggle with mental illness and the dependence on medication, which began when I was 10 years old. Hopefully those who share the same history of being in and out of psychiatrist offices, hospitals, and mental health facilities will see this and be able to relate and know that we’ve been there. And most importantly – that it’s OK to not be OK.”
Charcoal Tongue, made up of Christopher Mora (vocals), Luciano Islas (bass), Matt Guajardo (guitar), and Jacob Navaira (keyboards, vocals), took shape in 2105, after Mora’s attempted suicide. The band’s sound, dark and visceral, blends elements of extreme metal with hardcore punk into impressively titanic metalcore.
“My Deeds on Display” opens with a two-part intro separated by the insertion of a cartridge into a VHS player. Part one comprises gently streaming guitars, whereas part two presents a sonic cacophony rocketing into nuclear-powered harmonics reminiscent of Slipknot on performance enhancing drugs. Lustrous, almost fulsome breakdowns, infuse the tune with pulsating, actinic energy.
Mora utilizes his voice to remarkable advantage, ranging from a rasping rapping delivery to Factor Five screaming. Yet even when screeching, he maintains careful lilting control of tonality and texture. This ability allows him to project intense emotional flavors, thus avoiding the emotional vacuum usually attending metalcore vocals.
The video, shot through blue-tinged filters, discharges susceptibility, fervor, and urgent psychological auras, disturbing the psychic parasphere with intense wrenching images and a sense of subjective dispersal.
“My Deeds on Display” seethes with fulminating harmonic impetus. The video is dark and intimate on a profound level, balanced on the fulcrum of rational versus irrational. This song is off the chain!
