Folk black metal sensation Perchta reveal the explicit video ‘Vom Verlånga’ (“About the Desire”) as the first single taken from the Tyroleans’ forthcoming sophomore album “D’Muata” (“The Mother”), which has been chalked up for release on June 14, 2024.
The censored version of the video clip is available for immediate publication via this link: https://youtu.be/aebhc0wL-YI An uncensored version will be revealed on a suitable platform in due time.
Perchta comment: “Society’s distorted view on sexuality is often further twisted by patriarchal bias, and the representation of the female body regularly comes with a one-dimensional perspective”, frontwoman Frau Percht writes. “The song and video of ‘Vom Verlånga’ narrate an authentic tale of wild lust and an intimate joining of woman and man on every level of being.”
D’Muata Manifesto: Female sexuality has been considered a great mystery for far too long. For centuries the female body was surrounded by taboo. It speaks volumes that it took until 2022 when a medical expert finally pointed out that the clitoris was incompletely depicted with only its smallest visible part even in biology textbooks. The female pubic area was obviously deemed as of too little concern to receive proper representation in both the medical world and society in general. Due to this kind of censorship, women were deprived of understanding and knowing their own bodily functions. Even today, the arousal and ejaculation of women receives little to no attention beyond the distorting confines of pornography. Therefore, it is essential to represent female desire with its multifaceted sensuality and wildness without artificial restraints and to draw attention to the beauty and wonder of the natural female body. More focus on empowerment, self-love, individual autonomy, and freedom of women is direly needed. Outdated manipulative constructs on women and their sexuality which is propagated by many media and in societies has to be broken down. The world urgently needs to move away from superficial self-expression, assimilation, and constant pressure for ‘optimisation’ of female (and male) body images towards authenticity and a healthy self-esteem.
Video credit: Camera & Light: Oliver K. / Actors: Neralia & Markus / Set Assistance: Klara / Concept by Frau Percht & Cartismandua / Directed & edited by Cartismandua
Tracklist: 1. Vom Verlånga 2. Ois wås ma san 3. Heiliges Bluat 4. Hebamm 5. D’Muata 6. Wehenkanon 7. Ausbruch 8. Långtuttin & Stampa 9. Mei Dianä Mei Bua
The image of a solitary woman living in a remote Alpine mountain place literally at the edge of civilisation evokes strong connotations of which ‘witch’ is probably one of the first. An independent woman confident and free in her actions, sexuality, and self-determination still goes against the collective expectations of our society.
With Perchta‘s sophomore full-length entitled “D’Muata”, which translates from her Alpine Austrian dialect to English as “The Mother”, mastermind and vocalist Frau Percht and her band have created a feminist manifesto within a folklore influenced black metal context. Femininity in all its facets is a rather niche topic in this genre although it is an inseparable part of everything human and the natural world around us.
All members of Perchta work in one way or the other with natural materials, while being shaped by the majestic mountain landscape surrounding them and even experiencing the essence of life first hand working as a midwife. “D’Muata” places the focus on procreation, birth, the nourishing of life, and motherhood without reducing women to this aspect. Such themes as female sexuality, menstruation stigma, the loss of a child, violence against women, and even femicide are also explored – and also personified as in the dark ancient Alpine folklore figures described in the track ‘Langtuttin & Stampa’.
Taking their name from an alleged pagan goddess that older scholars tried to reconstruct as being worshiped in the Upper German and Austrian Alpine regions, Perchta were conceived in Tyrol, Austria in 2017 with an aim to preserve and rejuvenate regional traditions.
Three years later, Perchta released their debut album “Ufång” (2020), which established the band’s reputation as a highly individualistic and unique act. All lyrics of the entire album are intoned in the Tyrolean vernacular. The words are shrouded in a tempest of tremolo guitars and ritualistic folk with bone-piercing extreme vocals on top.
Once touring activities resumed after the global break, Perchta also began to earn attention for their outstanding live performances, which strengthened the bonds within the band. Now the black witch of the Tyrolean mountains and her pack return with a magical new album that Perchta will also bring to the stage!
Perchta line-up: Frau Percht – harsh & clean vocals, Teufelsgeige, percussions / Walscher Fabio D’Amore – bass, keys & programming / Loda Chris Knoll – electric lead & acoustic guitars / Moosmandl Christian Höll – dulcimer (Hackbrett) / Gsell Lukas Massinger – electric rhythm & acoustic guitars / Håscht Simon Schnückel – drums
Guest musicians: Morean (ALKALOID, ex-DARK FORTRESS) – vocals on ‘D’Muata’ / Dr. Ranklstein (ARG!) – Percussion on ‘Wehenkanon’ / Theresa Wopfner – tenor hammered dulcimer & zither / Claudia Ciresa, Katja Reisenbauer, Felix, Maria, Laurenz & Darius – choir
Guitar arrangement by Loda and Gsell / Rhythm & lead guitar recordings & editing at Loda’s home studio / Production, recording & editing: Fabio D’Amore at Synonym of Sound, Silz (AT) / Mixing
Staffan Karlsson at The Sweetspot, Halmstad (SE) & Fabio D’Amore at Synonym of Sound, Silz (AT) / Mastering: Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios, Helsinki (FI) / Cover artwork by Lisa Schubert (Vinsterwan) / Graphical design by Janus Net-Works
Available formats: “D’Muata” is available as a 76-page hardcover CD artbook with bonus DVD, as ltd. smoke clear & black marbled vinyl LP, as black vinyl LP, and as Digisleeve CD.
Shop: http://lnk.spkr.media/perchta-dmuata
