The official music video for the song "Carved Into The Skin" from STRIGOI, the new project featuring PARADISE LOST guitarist Greg Mackintosh, can be seen below. The track is taken from STRIGOI's debut album, "Abandon All Faith", which was released on November 22 via Nuclear Blast. The clip was produced by the bandmembers themselves and filmed by Danny Biggin, Json Adriani and Jake Mackintosh, who also took care of editing duties. Greg comments: "This, the grimmest track on the album, is about depression, despair and self-harm. Musical asphyxiation." Bassist Chris Casket states: "The production of the video was totally DIY, including the 'practical effects' and filmed in studio and on location in Yorkshire, Suffolk and Milan. Initially, we wanted to gather background footage for a lyric video, but these sessions quickly escalated into a full video production, and the end result is a combination of performance, eerie locations, creeping insects and self mutilation." When Mackintosh put to rest his VALLENFYRE side project in 2018, he closed a difficult but an ultimately cathartic period in his life. Created as a tribute to his father John, who passed away in 2009, VALLENFYRE originally served as a sounding board for Greg's grief, but then delved into his nihilistic take on the world. VALLENFYRE's brief existence was intentional — the band always knew they could go no further than the three studio albums that bore their name. A mere few days after VALLENFYRE played its last live show in September 2018, Mackintosh announced the formation of a brand-new band, STRIGOI. Named after the troubled spirits in Romanian mythology who could rise from the grave and assume an entirely different form, STRIGOI's lineup is rounded out by former EXTREME NOISE TERROR and VALLENFYRE bass player Chris Casket. (PARADISE LOST drummer Waltteri Väyrynen provided studio drums but will not be a full-time member.) Recorded at Mackintosh's Black Planet studio between January and March 2019, the resultant 12-song LP finds Greg culling from his love of old-school death metal, grindcore and punk for a visceral, but cinematic offering of extreme metal. Whereas VALLENFYRE was down-and-dirty, crusty and often "in the gutter," STRIGOI conjures feelings of both dread and hostility, laced with Mackintosh's trademark lead guitar lines and biting death metal roar. "With VALLENFYRE, we went down this path where it got more and more crusty," Mackintosh explains. "I thought we couldn't take it any further, so I needed to put in some new elements. With STRIGOI, there's a bit of spookiness, even some subtle elements of industrial and even black metal. The goal was to switch it up a bit. I was perfectly content with what I was doing in VALLENFYRE, but for STRIGOI to stand on its own, I wanted to try new things to separate ourselves from the pack." STRIGOI is: Greg Mackintosh - Vocals, Guitars Chris Casket - Bass Waltteri Väyrynen - Drums (studio only)
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