Darktide is a new musical entity hailing from Auckland New Zealand with intent purpose and intelligence. The goal is to defy expectations and explore new elements of extreme heavy music
James:’’ We'd all met in our early 20s playing music in different bands that would often do shows together. Ethan and I had discussed making a band together but the timing was never right. Until, just before covid when Dan and I had been jamming together, Ethan got in touch wanting to make something heavy and the rest fell into place.
What is Dark tide?
Dark - Lacking knowledge or culture/dismal or gloomy
-tide - Time
Darktide - A dismal time lacking in culture and knowledge
Combining Death/Black and Doom with Deathcore?
Dan: ‘The two genres are complimentary in the right context and lend themselves to the direction we want to take our music. There are other genres we draw from and aim to incorporate into our writing.
The first Single No One. A prelude for No One Nowhere Nothing?
Ethan:’’ It is the first single from our upcoming EP, so yes, in a sense. NOWHERE and NOTHING lean more towards the doom influence and tackle darker themes than their predecessor. There is also a bonus track with a spoken passage, a foreword, between NO ONE and NOWHERE.
James:’’ I came up with the idea as a sense of spiralling and slowly losing everything. NO ONE; losing touch with everyone around you, pushing away loved ones and alienating yourself. NOWHERE; losing touch with reality and losing your sanity. Starting to feel yourself disassociate and moving away from anything tying you to life or reality. Finally, NOTHING; as the final conclusion. The grand void. The absolute emptiness that remains.
The current state of Mankind and the de-evolution of society….
Raymond: It's sad but also understandable. We've discarded everything that meaningfully connected us to the world, each other and ourselves in our pursuit of "the enlightenment". We now only know things in terms of propositions, and so we've inherited a dead world where everything is abstracted away from our lived experience. We're experiencing what some have called a meaning crisis.
Is Change possible?
Raymond: ignore the "bullshit" our culture constantly throws our way. It seems like humanity is trying to cope with the realisation of our absurd condition in ways that no longer work for us or that we can no longer take seriously. We need to find a way to reconcile our subjective experience with our (fairly) objective world in a way that reconnects us with ourselves, each other and the world. As pretentious as that sounds.
The melancholy in your music. It is a sence of the inevitable…
Ethan: ‘’The only constant is change, such is; the only inevitability is death. We have attempted to realise this existential nihilism within our music, without becoming overt preachers. We are exploring themes of transience, impermanence, and mortality, while acknowledging the limitations of our existence.
Being Drawn to extreme music …
Ethan: ‘’Trauma, pain, the longing for an aural outlet of unrelenting force. Cliches that are as real today as they were in my youth. I think most people who are drawn to extreme music have some sort of shared experiences and have sought solace in the heavy because it feels innately familiar.
James: ‘’I was always interested in metal from a young age because it seemed like regular music pushed to its limits. Eventually that becomes tame over time so you try to find something that steps it up even more. Perpetually chasing the blast beat dragon.
Future Plans …
Ethan: ‘’Our immediate future plans involve the release of our upcoming EP. Following this, we intend to focus on the development of new material, including a series of singles, and ultimately, the creation of a full-length album. We also anticipate incorporating live performances into our schedule, providing our audience with the opportunity to experience our music in a live setting.
Top 5 albums of all time
Vildhjarta - Thousands of Evils (Raymond)
Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name (Rohan)
Darkher - The Buried Storm (Ethan)
Nightmarer - Cacophony of Terror (Dan)
Norma Jean - All Hail (James)
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/darktidebandnz/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/darktidebandnz NO ONE Lyric Video - https://youtu.be/V2l0TSCb9yA
Streaming Links - https://linktr.ee/darktidebandnz