Photo by Alinele . Grotesque Photography
“WHITE WARD‘s cinematic sensibility, prominent bass, occasional twin leads, and protracted song lengths all tie them to the sweeping melodic tradition in black metal, while their clean production and sparse use of blastbeats tie them in the here and now. Love Exchange Failure sounds fresh and urgent, even though they’re not the first black metal band to experiment with jazz.” — Decibel
Love Exchange Failure, the consuming new full-length from Odessa, Ukraine-based post-black metal collective WHITE WARD, is out now and streaming via Debemur Morti Productions.
Doused in poise, creativity, and dynamism, with Exchange Failure, the band channels Bohren And Der Club Of Gore, composer Angelo Badalamenti, and contemporary blackened majesty into an eclectic set of visionary hymns that fuse late-night metropolitan contemplation, psychological horror, intoxicating melodicism, and primeval, animal-state ferocity. The record blends brushed drums, reverberant piano, a variety of guesting clean vocalists, and neo-noir saxophone within an architecture of first-rate contemporary misanthropic black metal.
Stream WHITE WARD’s stunning Love Exchange Failure HERE.
WHITE WARD‘s Love Exchange Failure is available on CD, LP, and digital formats. For preorders in North America go HERE, for Europe go HERE, and for digital orders go HERE.
Following the record’s release, WHITE WARD will take on a short European tour. See all confirmed dates below.
WHITE WARD:
10/13/2019 Malý BerlÃn – Trnava, SK
10/14/2019 Klub MoÄvara – Zagreb, HR
10/16/2019 Le Molotov – Marseille, FR
10/17/2019 Akut – Thun, CH
10/18/2019 Le Klub – Paris, FR w/ Borgne
10/19/2019 Into The Void Fest – Leeuwarden, NL
10/20/2019 The Pit’s Bang Zoom Noise – Kortrijk, BE
10/22/2019 Vortex Surfer Musikclub – Siegen, DE
10/26/2019 Rideboy Club – Bielsko-Biala, PL
10/27/2019 Aurora – Budapest, HU
Diverse movements and tonal shifts interlink as if to mirror what the band describes as humanity’s existential struggle “caused by the inability to understand who we are and what our place on this planet is;” a clash between dreamworlds and harsh reality evocative as the urban landscapes of photographer Luke Pownall used throughout the packaging. A truly essential listen, Love Exchange Failure is a record that, on repeat plays, opens up like a streetscape sinkhole to drag you into the degenerate heart of the city.
Further elaborates WHITE WARD of the offering, “The idea behind this album is to illustrate the artificial conditions people created to contradistinguish themselves to nature. Being neither a separate phenomenon nor a sustainable part of the surrounding environment, we’ve pushed ourselves to a constant struggle caused by the inability to understand who we are and what our place on this planet is. Conditions we create lead to a continually rising level of fear in the minds of individuals and at the same time – the lack of love. Under the term ‘love’ we mean not a feeling in its primitive understanding but a feature that helps us to live in harmony with ourselves, other people, and the world around. The love exchange failure leads to an inevitable degradation and degeneration. The more hatred we push towards people around us, the deeper we fall. The blinder we are on our daily way to work, the more sufferings we leave behind. People don’t have time to talk to each other. Furthermore, obsessed by desires, they don’t even pay enough attention to their children, rising each new generation more exposed to mental problems. Blindness, indifference, and domestic abuse, bullying in schools, social rejection, and many other factors lead to many tragedies of mankind. Caused by individuals, they are our own crimes.”
“One of the most inventive and mischievous bands currently operating in black metal, WHITE WARD torched the rule book before they even started. Love Exchange Failure is the wonderfully confusing but endlessly fascinating result.” — Blabbermouth
“The music both ascends and seems to be pulverizing bedrock at the same time, with wrenching howls and impassioned singing magnifying the music’s thrilling yet wrenching assault on the senses. The saxophone returns at the end, more frenzied and forlorn than before, as the ravaging intensity of the music crests one last time.” — No Clean Singing on “Dead Heart Confession”
“…an absolute masterpiece…” — Metal Utopia
“…deep, emotional and impactful… So much variety, so much loneliness, emptiness, so many moods, twists, and turns. It is black, post-black, jazz, progressive. So noir. So personal, so emotional. Go home, be alone, after sunset, at dusk. Have a glass of your favorite whiskey in your hand. Put Love Exchange Failure on. Sit down on the couch and relax. Let it all carry you away. Far away. Only you, your lonely broken dreams and the music.” — Blessed Altar
“Love Exchange Failure sees the band polishing their sound into something grandiose.” — Two Guys Metal Reviews
“They’re like a warm death blanket; the blasting black metal is the hammering of nails into our collective coffin. The saxophone kisses us goodbye with the moist finality of authenticity as all that is real dies and all that is fake takes over. WHITE WARD teaches us that mechanized hate leads only to untruth…” — Invisible Oranges
“Delivering a remarkably cohesive work, WHITE WARD utilizes an appropriately broad array of sound to paint their picture of a soul slowly crushed under only increasing modernity.” — Captured Howls
“….an incredibly varied album… stark at times and lush at others, both abrasive and melodic… channeling the kind of warm yet ultimately distant embrace which cities can have.” — Heavy Blog Is Heavy
“If you love original albums that are highly atmospheric and go heavy on the misery, Love Exchange Failure is the album for you…. it perfectly captures our increasing failure to exchange love with one another, and all of the societal repercussions that go along with that.” — Metal Trenches
“…a genre-defying masterwork flowing from the evident sweat and skill of WHITE WARD‘s members. I hope to listen to it for years to come and I hope you do, too.” — Toilet Ov Hell
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