Screaming like a rocket out of Western Pennsylvania, Windchimes are on a crash course with your supple ear as its target. The band breaks down and builds back up modern variants of black metal, metalcore, and post hardcore, a new metal monstrosity they have unleashed with their debut EP, Enervation, self-released this past October 30.
Windchimes are vocalists Gavin Fornelli, guitarist and Larry Rupp, guitarist Lucas Redick, bassist Dillon Giesler, and drummer Jordan Braverman. They view the writing and recording process as a therapeutic release of negative energy.
Enervation captures sadness, dread, anger, and pain, both lyrically and sonically, across six songs that transform from haunting melodies into roaring breakdowns in the vein of Thy Art is Murder and Between The Buried and Me.
You can stream the entirety of Enervation below, followed by a track-by-track breakdown of the album with vocalist Gavin Fornelli and guitarist Larry Rupp.
Mortal Body, Eternal Soul
This is basically the intro of the band and the meaning of our name, setting the tone for it all. The name Windchimes came from Gavin. When his grandmother died, who he was very close to, his family was given a set of memorial windchimes.
He was curious as to why they would gift this to them, it just seemed very antique and random. He later found out many funeral homes give them to families, saying that if they hear the chimes playing that it means their loved one is thinking about them, or are nearby. We thought there was something truly haunting yet romantic about that and felt like it was a perfect fit for what we want to do.
Enervation
When I wrote these lyrics, I was thinking about my first memory as a child. I was walking to the bus for preschool; I saw a worm on the cement. It was a hot, summer day and he was shriveled up and drying. I was confused about what made the worm leave the earth and go so far onto the sidewalk and just to die. I kinda wanted to display what I thought I would feel if I was this worm.
Zetsubō // Succumb To (ft. Peter Rono of Kaonashi)
This song focuses on observing the pain of a friend through an all too familiar cycle of suffering and addiction. Watch how depression and suffering can overwhelm someone into becoming almost unrecognizable. This track is a perfect mix of everything we were trying to accomplish on the record, and having Peter on the track added a unique take.
Writhing With Withering Foliage
This song is about my disdain for colonization and over-militarization. “Drilling for oil in land you don’t own, obliterating heritage leaving only blood and bone, leave it to America to glorify conquest, a country full of idiots full of regress.”
Glassface
Larry wrote these lyrics with this in mind: A man that lived his whole life being terrible, angry, filled with hate towards everyone he knew, only to realize on his deathbed that he’s alone, only then does he realize how he wasted his life. His last wishes are for no one to lie at his funeral and act like he was a wonderful man, when he wasn’t.
My Echoing Soliloquy // Sunken
I wanted to create the feeling of being stuck and unable to get out, reaching for help but never having a hand to grasp. You can feel the intensity building throughout the song until finally reaching a point of bliss and a resolution of the dark.
Band Members:
Vocals – Gavin Fornelli
Guitar and Backing Vocals – Larry Rupp
Guitar – Lucas Redick
Bass – Dillon Giesler
Drums – Jordan Braverman
Photo by Windchimes.
Order a copy of Enervation here.
