Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Hungarian avant-garde metal project Thy Catafalque have released their new single “Tömbök” with an accompanying music video. The track is the second single from “XIII: Sárga erdő,” the project’s thirteenth album, due November 20th through Season of Mist.
Translating to “Masses,” “Tömbök” follows matter through a boiler chamber where glowing walls divide it into slag and heat. From there, the lyrics trace that slag cooling into lifeless blocks. Yet a refrain cuts through like an instruction: “Alakulj át! Szabadulj fel!” (“Transform! Free yourself!”). Gábor Veres handles vocals, while Ivett Dudás adds whispers. Additionally, Krisztián Varga and Zoltán Vigh play lead guitar, and Dario Cei contributes flute.
Project mastermind Tamás Kátai calls “Tömbök” the heaviest and darkest piece on the record. “The lyrics are about the method of waste disposal by incineration, and the process of how the waste is being divided into heat and slag or lifeless masses and how matter shifts its shape during different chemical and physical circumstances,” he explains. He also notes this is the project’s first video featuring the band performing a song.
“Tömbök” follows first single “Búcsú a piros madártól.” Together, they preview the twelve tracks of “XIII: Sárga erdő,” which Kátai describes as having no unifying concept, only the feeling of wandering through the forest of past times. Most notably, the album features live drums for the first time in the project’s history, alongside thirty-four musicians and a twenty-voice male choir. Kátai produced the record, while Gábor Vári engineered, mixed, and mastered it at Miracle Sound Szeged.
Founded in Makó, southeastern Hungary, in 1998, Thy Catafalque has served as Kátai’s solo vision since “Rengeteg” in 2011. Originally a studio-only project, it performed live for the first time in 2021. Since then, it has earned two Fonogram Awards (Hungary’s Grammy equivalent) for “Vadak” and “Alföld”.
“XIII: Sárga erdő” is available to pre-order now via Season of Mist.
