Exclusive EP Premiere: Death Is Everywhere by Timo Ellis (Netherlands)

Have a look at the cover art for Death Is Everywhere, the new solo EP from Timo Ellis, multi-instrumentalist and frontman for perennial MetalSucks faves Netherlands:

Rarely has an album cover so simply and wonderfully conveyed the vibe of the music contained therein. Death Is Everywhere is a collection of paradoxes: apocalyptic and celebratory, introspective and extroverted, hopelessly defeated and uncompromisingly defiant. It doesn’t flatten emotion into simple black-and-whites; it allows for a full range of range of feelings.

All of this adds up to an epiphanic catharsis given aural form; as the United States crosses a tragic new landmark in coronavirus deaths, it is a perfect encapsulation of the collective trauma and anxieties we’re all processing.

Appropriately for music with such breadth, Death Is Everywhere draws from a wide range of genres and influences, from the Melvins to Curtis Mayfield to the Beach Boys to Nomeansno to Queens of the Stone. As Ellis himself tells MetalSucks:

“For me, Death Is Everywhere is a bit more musically freewheeling and less beholden to genre than Netherlands; it contains elements of sludge, R&B, Brazilian music, choral music, and straight up balls out hard rock… as well as is imbued with about as much optimism as I can muster these days, in spite of our civilization’s headlong flight back to feudalism, and unchecked, rapid descent into environmental catastrophe.”

MetalSucks is STOKED to premiere Death Is Everywhere, which you can stream below; we think it’s extraordinary, and hope you do as well.

Death Is Everywhere will be released this Friday, February 26. Watch the music video for the title track at the bottom of this post, and pre-order the EP here. It was recorded by Ellis at Shame Party Studios, mixed by Tom Tierney at Spaceman Sound, and mastered by Ron A. Shaffer at Atlantic West Studios.