Belgian Extreme Metallers FEAR DISEASE, have released their new single “Downfall”, accompanied by an official lyric video. The track is taken from the band’s forthcoming debut album “Floodgates”, out on September 2nd via Wormholedeath.
FEAR DISEASE were formed in 2014 by brothers Hans (rhythm guitar & vocals) and Mathias Paesen (drums) in Meeuwen (Belgium). Jonas Parren on lead guitar, followed by Cas Hegge on bass joined the band soon after. What started out as jam sessions covering mainly SEPULTURA songs, led to the creation of original material and the independent release of a first self-made demo in 2017 titled “Harbinger Of Tempest”.
Along the way, a problem arose with the band name. It turned out it had already been taken. Therefore the choice was made to rename the band FEAR DISEASE, after one of the song titles from the demo released in 2017. It refers to the parallel drawn between the state of mind of living in fear and the actual fear of contracting the disease. Ironically, the Covid crisis hit the world soon after, delaying the schedule to enter the studio several times. Eventually, in August 2021 the band was able to make the trip to Pistoia, Italy and record their debut album “Floodgates”, set for release in 2022.
FEAR DISEASE comments on the album: “For this album we started writing from the heart, drawing musical inspiration from various different bands and genres of metal that we enjoy. We didn’t set any limitations on the composition style. This, combined with having multiple songwriters in the band with each their own influences, ranging from Thrash, Death and Groove Metal, and even some Metalcore and Black Metal, made for a very diverse and varied end result. The record is not a concept album. There isn’t one main topic. Instead, there are several themes throughout the different tracks. What ties them all together is that they all share a certain dark edge that makes them interesting to us.
The album title, ‘Floodgates’, refers to the proverbial floodgates being opened to release what we’ve been holding back for a long time. Not only are we presenting a new version of ourselves to the world, but we’re also touching on some subjects that we haven’t seen many other bands deal with before.
As we are a Belgian band we partly found inspiration in our country’s past, which we put to use on a few tracks aside from the broader societal topics we talk about. For example ‘Bokkenrijders’ is about the persecution of the eponymous gangs from the 18th century who is said to have spread terror in our region. ‘End of All’ tells the horrors of World War I, whereas ‘White King of Black Death’ is an account of the atrocities committed in Congo Free State under the reign of King Leopold II around the turn of the 20th century.”
“Floodgates” track listing:
- Kill or be killed
- Downfall
- No man’s land
- Stalemate
- Ardent apostate
- Victimized
- Static
- Scorpio
- White king of black death
- End of all
- Bokkenrijders
You can watch the official lyric video for “Downfall” below:
