The performance video for Chrome Waves’ “Under the Weight of a Billion Souls” showcases the groups twin and complementary virtues. There is the feral and acidic vocals and driving beat one might associate with black metal as well as the rapid, ascending guitar riffs but paired with a moodiness and melodic touch that gives its more aggressive elements an immediacy and accessibility that allows its songs to reach a little deeper. This song in particular is expansive and its message of cultivating our collective responsibility toward one another as fellow humans and going beyond tribal obsessions and narrowly crafted and conceived social circles for our mutual benefit seems especially poignant and relevant at this moment in our development as a species. The yearning guitar arcs and gritty ambient soundscape both posits a question about if it’s possible to transcend our current social and psychological limitations and offers an emotional resonance suggesting in the affirmative if we want to. Watch the video for “Under the Weight of a Billion Souls” on YouTube and listen to more Chrome Waves on Spotify. The group’s new album Earth Will Shed Its Skin releases April 28, 2023 on M-Theory Audio (link to Bandcamp below).
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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