In preparation for their show tomorrow at the Earl, Bataille is unveiling two new videos, each more abrasive than the first. The antipunk qaurtet’s music tends to function as a musical black hole. It’s not so much an abyss, as it is a gravitational force compressing all the strange violence of the world into a crystalline structure so heavy it threatens to collapse in on itself and destroy the tenuous fabric of static-laden guitars holding everything together.
Consider the two videos Bataille is dropping simultaneously. Both “How Innocent” (see above) and “Grave of Vampires” seem ponderous, but the absolute commitment of the group to everything vile, tragic, and extreme allows no room for pretension or sarcasm. Though it may seem a contradiction in terms, Bataille truly create a theology of nihilism which goes beyond the stupor of modern life and Twitter trends and teeters dangerously along pornographic horror. Both tracks were part of last year’s EP, The Wolves Amongst the Flower, and both were structural to the record. Here, separated, they exist as harsh statements of unreality. The washed out snake-handling revival of “How Innocent” is exacerbated by the Rorschach test of “Grave of Vampires,” daring the viewer to admit to what they are watching.
If you’re planning on seeing Bataille open for Ex-cult tomorrow night, you might think twice about even wanting to step outside your house after viewing the following material. That’s the reaction you’re supposed to have, though, so let the bleak reality of living cascade around you, and let the madness of Bataille pull you in. It’s inevitable anyways.
Watch “Grave of Vampires” below.
Bataille will perform tomorrow night at the Earl in support of Ex-Cult. Nag opens the show. Doors open at 10 p.m. Admission is $10.
More Info
Bandcamp: bataille-atl.bandcamp.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Bataille/549503158436566
Tumblr: bataillemusic.tumblr.com