Tribulation’s New Music Video: Like Ghost, but with Less Pomp and Circumstance

Pitchfork’s Brandon Stosuy makes a really good point about Swedish blackened trad metallers Tribulation in his write-up of their new video for “Strange Getaways Beckon,” namely that Tribulation have delivered precisely the kind of record that metalheads wanted from Ghost but that we didn’t quite get. I’m extrapolating a bit here, but here’s how I interpret that: metal needs pomp and circumstance, it needs theatrics, it needs silliness — that stuff is embedded in its DNA — but we don’t ALWAYS need it, and sometimes it feels as if Ghost’s shtick has gone so overboard that their cult of personality has overtaken their music. When a band like Tribulation comes along that plays a very similar style of music (inb4 “they’re different” — yes, I know), it’s refreshing to have the obsession with image stripped away.

Oh, Tribulation have a strong visual element to their presentation, no doubt. But it hasn’t overtaken the songs.  Those songs, on The Children of the Night, are SO strong, and that’s why I like this band so much.

Check out the video for “Strange Gateways Beckon” and see what you think. Like I said, strong visual aesthetic. But it works. I’m into it. And it doesn’t overpower the music. God, this song rocks.