Ghent-based record label Viernulvier prepare their next album release from Belgian/Iraqi production trio Use Knife – Saif Al-Qaissy, Stef Heeren and Kwinten Mordijck.
A furious synthesis of post-industrial decay and Mesopotamian ritual, ‘État Coupable’ unspools like a fevered hallucination of modern displacement and ancestral memory, dragging scorched electronics and spectral percussion into its tempest. Spanning seven tracks, the album portrays a dance between agony and transcendence, post-trauma manifesting as an exorcism of jagged noise, where post-punk tension dissolves into a mirage of distorted tradition.
Accompanying the album, Antwerp-based visual alchemist Youniss translates this sonic catharsis into a fever-dream collage for ‘Freedom, Asshole’ – a disquieting mosaic of dark matter glitches, flickering between the sinew of earthly resilience and the stark absurdity of a world teetering between emancipation and oppression. Crafted in tandem with Nihiloxica’s sonic architect Spooky-J, the track seethes with volatile rhythms, its urgency underscored by the weight of disillusionment.
Youniss distills this tension into a visual tapestry that oscillates between archival dystopia and the uncanny grace of migratory instinct, exposing the paradoxes of a civilisation addicted to its own masquerade of peace. A fragmented sermon for the damned, ‘Freedom, Asshole’ wields irony like a scalpel, cutting deep, leaving scars that demand to be traced.
“For me ‘Freedom Asshole’ is about fighting for freedom even when everything seems bleak. Where a situation might seem hopeless and it feels like you’re running around in circles, it’s imperative to try and break the circle that is being upheld by the powers that be all around us. The whole effect haze is a way of indicating that an attempt is being made to erase an identity. To wipe a country off the map, but they hold their ground. No matter how bad the situation sometimes looks.”
‘État Coupable’ is scheduled for release 28th March via Viernulvier Records. Order a copy from Bandcamp.
