It is almost Christmas! And the magic of Christmas is turning even the angst of metal into happy, light-hearted and even dramatic music.
So is the case with "Slain", a progressive rock/metal band. The band has come up with an exclusive Christmas video featuring their rendition of "Gloria Tonight", a Christmas carol by David Clydesdale. It was released on December 22.
“Originally a nu-metal band we evolved into a more progressive and melodic sound with the current line-up that started with the release of the first album in 2010. In spite of being a metal band we sing in churches. Last Christmas we performed a Christmas exclusive show which included a choir called the "Choral Riff". That is when we thought of putting the concept on record. So this year we recorded this song with the choir. It was a phenomenal success which led us to feature the choir in our upcoming singles. We will feature them whenever necessary from now on,” says Bryden Lewis, guitarist of "Slain".
The concept of the video is rather simple. The video features the choir as its main highlight with "Slain’s" member chipping in here and there. But the music reflects the perfect blend — a traditional Christmas carol, with the complexity and dynamics of progressive rock that "Slain" is known for.
“When we thought of the concept of the video we asked ourselves one question. What if some scenes were shot backwards and see if we can confuse the viewer about how strange, magical things are happening? So, we introduced the concept of messing with time as a dimension. During the course of the video, hats fly up from the ground magically onto dancers’ heads and presents appear out of nowhere straight into people’s hands. It adds a layer of mystery and magic to a simple fun video of our choir and us having fun at a Christmas party,” says Manek D’Silva, guitarist of "Slain" and director of the video.
If we look at the band’s sound over the years we can see that metal has slowly taken a back seat. Their sound now retains the glory of classic rock, while being driven by the barrier-breaking musicianship exclusive to progressive metal.
“We, as a band, love every form of music. So, we took the metal within us and added a lot of melody to it with some layered structures in music and now some electronica as well. This helped us give your audience new kinds of music time and again. The Christmas song this year is a perfect example of it,” says Naresh Nathan, bassist of "Slain" and script writer of the video.
