GRADIENCE - Photo by Nalle Magnusson
GRADIENCE is a new Danish duo breaking down mental and musical barriers with its powerful fusion of trap-rap, black metal, metalcore and deathcore. On the forthcoming debut EP 'Ironsight', the duo unfolds its stylistic abundance in a personal storytelling addressing the experience of being perceived as a stranger and the emotions and actions this schism can evoke.
Today sees the release of the GRADIENCE’s first single ‘This Abyss’ which is accompanied by a music video created by the band’s own Jakob Harris. Frontman, singer/rapper and main lyricist Gavin Mistry states on ‘This Abyss’, a song about venomous relations:
"The song describes the destructive themes found in a relationship on the verge of falling apart. 'Lets decay, I'm not in tune, fucking it neither are you, so while you waste away, I'm somewhere cold, shadow grace my soul!' These lines capture the feeling that everything is already broken, 'I' don't have control over things, and neither does the person I'm singing to. There is no turning back, so we might as well decay together because I have mentally left the relationship. I look forward to being in the shadows and finding peace in my soul."
Watch the video for ‘This Abyss’
and stream the single HERE
GRADIENCE consists of vocalist and lyricist Gavin Mistry and musician and visual artist Jakob Harris. Both have previously released music in different contexts: Gavin in the hip-hop scene and Jakob as a prominent figure in the Danish metal scene, creating music and visuals for his own projects and delivering visual productions to various bands and artists.
When Jakob and Gavin met in 2022, the chemistry was evident, and the two decided to merge their musical worlds into a shared vision. From the beginning, they had a clear idea of breaking conventions by creating music not heard before in the metal scene. The approach was to fuse individual experiences and musical genres, crafting music they would listen to themselves, and addressing personal subjects that mattered to them. 'Gradience' means the absence of a clear boundary between two categories, precisely symbolizing the duo's aim.
The shared vision has now resulted in the five songs on GRADIENCE's debut EP 'Ironsight,' recorded in the summer of 2023 with producer Chris Kreutzfeldt (Cabal, Møl). On the EP, the duo seamlessly merges diverse musical elements, ranging from melodic metalcore, epic black metal, heavy deathcore, and groovy trap rap, creating a unique expression that encompasses emotions such as anger, aggression, melancholy, and sorrow, along with honesty and vulnerability that make the music and lyrics relatable and present.
Personal experience and the emotions and thoughts resulting from those experiences and their impact on life is the focus of Gavin Mistry’s lyrics. The songs delve into Gavin's upbringing and encounter with Denmark and Danish culture as an immigrant from Nigeria, the presence of racism, the grip of anxiety, and self-medication attempts to cope with it.
The lyrics thus focus on the feeling of alienation that can permeate an individual when met with skepticism, mistrust, and hatred. Being a stranger in the eyes of others is one thing, but this feeling can also spread like a poison in relationships, both with others and, worst of all, with oneself. Several songs on 'Ironsight' specifically deal with the tumultuous relationships that arise from the chaos that alienation can cause in a person, not least the band’s debut single ‘This Abyss’.
GRADIENCE - This Abyss
Artwork by Jakob Harris
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