Paraline has today premiered their new video for the single titled ‘1999’ from their upcoming EP ‘Sound Weapon’ dropping March 1st, 2024 via Eclipse Records. Music can often be the energy needed to open our eyes. Sometimes it’s a hint, sometimes it’s an explosion. Paraline deliver a brilliant and touching piece of visual and sonic artwork that transcends the music and makes a statement, and possible warning, of where we may be headed.
At the end of the video, it states a prominent saying by Edmund Burke and reiterated by John Stuart Mill that reads “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing”. In today’s age of social media and everyone longing for their ’15 minutes of fame’ and said social media now capitalizing on that by selling verified badges, ‘1999’ serves as a bright and lonely flame shedding that light on that tunnel we blindly travel through, seeing only the immediate world around us and not the whole picture.
December 31, 1999 is when Vladimir Putin came to power. That was just one of many beginnings that led us to where we are now. Some may say that that was a long time ago but I will leave you with another saying: “Ego takes the elevator but karma takes the stairs”.
Watch this video after reading this and know that every one of us has the power to make a difference. All it takes is to speak up.
“This was the loudest video shoot we ever did,” says bass guitarist Alex Shustoff. “We are a rock band and used to loud noise however, this was intense because we used real AK assault rifles with blank cartridges, and all the fire, explosions, and shots in the video were real. This is a very important song, because it is about the conflict in Ukraine so we wanted it to be accompanied by a music video. All our songs address serious themes and contemplate things that need to be discussed, but in today’s reality, this song is unfortunately particularly relevant. Since we film all our videos ourselves, we occasionally face limitations and difficulties that we don’t always manage to overcome. This time however, the theme is too serious to allow unclear expression.”
Lead vocalist & guitarist Leo Andersen continues, “In this video, two opposing soldiers meet in open conflict. A battle ensues, and at its end, two indistinguishable people, literally enemies a minute ago, again take their original positions, ready for the cycle to repeat. The straight corridor symbolizes the inevitability of a direct confrontation, the absurd one-sidedness of all modern conflicts, and the lack of maneuvering space—people just clash head-on for no apparent reason, and the outcome is always the same. When anyone dies, it’s a tragedy because they lived, loved, grieved, worked, laughed, and then everything ended in a moment just because a total stranger declared them an enemy. They might have become the best of friends under different circumstances, who knows?”
About ‘Sound Weapon’
The new EP titled Sound Weapon by alternative rock band Paraline is a battle cry straight from the soul. Packed into a military box featured on the album cover, this “weapon” thematically explores the glory and tragedy of mirrored duality through its music: parallel lines symmetrically perfect yet never connecting, like the brothers in the band. Musically, the groove is the key to the cages of the lockup, and it is scheduled for release on March 1, 2024.
The regal guitars open the war-chest, and the vocals are a smooth and lustrous searchlight chasing fear to the shadows and demons back into their snake pits. Plainly, the band takes rock music to a new level. The lyrics, interpreted literally, explore the chains and shackles of society, friends gone wrong, politics and relationships, and denials leading to emptiness.
Moreso, however, this album is an epic example of what is most coveted in any art form. Sound Weapon is a sketchbook for the listener’s past and a launching pad for unrequited, bold imagination. Whether you see heaven, cold hell, the dazzling skin of the sun, or a sinister mist underneath a low moon, this record paints pictures that celebrate your journey and make your mystery rich and immortal. Now it is your turn to find out – what is in the box.
About Paraline
Paraline is an alternative rock band with a spectacular genre-defying fusion of insightful lyrics and haunting melodies that carry a profound and symbolic undertone denouncing totalitarianism, imperialism, and barbarism.
The band just signed a worldwide deal with Eclipse Records and they just premiered a new music video and single entitled “1999” which is a powerful statement about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Middle East, and war itself.
The band have also announced the availability of pre-orders for their upcoming EP album Sound Weapon which is scheduled to be released on March 1, 2024 via Eclipse Records.
Featured image by Tim Swanson.
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