On October 29, American metalcore band Crown the Empire released the music video for their track, “Dancing with the Dead.” Easily their darkest track to date, including both the narrative presented in the video as well as in the lyrics and instrumentals in the song, both elements combine to create a dark and heavy commentary on rebellion, hell, and what it means to hit rock bottom and continue digging.
“Dancing with the Dead” is the first track from the band that notably does not feature clean vocals. Instead, vocalist Andy Leo and bassist/vocalist Hayden Tree exchange growling words in a guttural dialogue while a heavy raucous beat permeates the song. Onscreen, a dark cinematic unfolds, where protagonist (Andy) has to physically overpower the seven deadly sins on a real-life chessboard in order to overthrow the clutches of the evil King (Hayden).
Regarding the inspiration behind the song, Andy shares that the song “came about during the rock bottom phase of quarantine. I’d felt like my purpose had been taken, and I had fully melded into the idea of just letting myself rot. I thought that rock bottom had a definite end but it felt as if I could go as low as I’d let myself.”
Hayden adds that “as a musician in the rock world, you can sometimes feel like you have to play it safe. These days artists seem to be fearful of stepping out of their comfort zone and doing something other than their norm or what’s trending. I didn’t want to play it safe anymore.”
Starting November 9, Crown the Empire will be going on tour special guests for Atreyu on their “Baptize Tour.” A list of dates and locations are available here.
In the meantime, enjoy the darkly lush music video of “Dancing with the Dead” here.
