Track By Tracks: La Menäce - Erebus (2024)

Overall EP background:

After our first EP (which had a common thread in the figure of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse), we started to work looking for a topic that, without leaving the epic theme aside, would allow us to explore new sounds and atmospheres. At that moment, our bass player Jorge, who had read several books about the era of Arctic explorations, proposed to frame the album within this theme. From that moment on Luis and Davo, drummer and guitarist as well as main composers, started to work on the development of music while Alex, singer, started to write some lyrics according to this topic.

1. Proa (Bow):

This is a track that we were especially eager to have as an introduction to the EP to provide context on all levels. It is a sonic synthesis of what awaits throughout the rest of the tracks, we play with more open sounds that allow us to give dynamics and evolve the atmosphere without losing our main leitmotif: the “epic zapatilla”.

The narration over the music introduces us to the theme around which the whole EP revolves: Franklin's Lost Expedition of 1845 and the subsequent disappearance of the HSM Erebus and the HSM Terror. As a curiosity, the narration is a translation of a fragment of the Victory Point Note, written in 1948 by some of the then-surviving members of the expedition, which is the last reliable proof of its existence. After this note, their trail was lost in the arctic cold. 

This track is a perfect introduction to the theme of the EP. A grandiose expedition narrated from the point of view of an anonymous sailor: how he gets involved in something far beyond him, how an epic story brews around him, and how that glory will only go to those who risked the least from their couches while he will lose everything in the process.

2. Pierdes el control:

This song is the beginning of the story of a sailor who finds himself enlisted on an Arctic expedition. The danger posed by these expeditions in the 19th century was deadly, but he, a simple seafaring worker, had no choice but to accept this job to continue subsisting and feeding his family. With these lyrics, our goal was to compare the life of this unnamed sailor and our own: these are workers´ lives where on many occasions, we find ourselves in situations with no power or decision over the events of our lives.

On a musical level, the song already introduces the constant dynamic changes that we believe are part of our nature as a band: blast beats, d-beat, choruses to pile on, and an epic ending.

3. Frente a la desesperación:

At this point in the story, the sailor finds himself trapped in a raging Arctic sea and facing a fatal end. All these events have been caused by the ambition, greed, and hunger for glory of those who command and finance the expedition, those great men sheltered in their comfy couches in the Admiralty. It is a critique of the unbridled ambition that overwhelms us all at times and leads us to put our own integrity and that of those around us at risk.

On this track, we get a bit carried away by the black 'n roll of Kvelertak, a band we all agree on (which is not easy). We really do enjoy it when we can introduce a catchy, even danceable riff, in the style of the one you can find at the end of this song.

4. Cuando ves en la gloria:

Our sailor has survived the first part of the expedition, but he faces an uncertain fate. Although, in some ways, he feels like a member of a crew embarked on a heroic deed, he cannot help but realize that neither his life nor that of his companions matters much and that the ultimate reward is destined only for those who have caused him to almost lose his life. This lyric also poses a critical metaphor about how the elites treat us as mere pawns, productive and anonymous numbers, means through which to achieve their own goals, and how we allow ourselves to be carried away by a dream of success that does not belong to us.

On a musical level, this track starts with some of the best fifteen seconds of our discography: that initial guitar feedback is interrupted by the entry of an accelerated hardcore drumbeat. Although throughout our lives we have known other styles of music, which are also reflected in our music, I believe that the common root of this project is born from hardcore punk, not only in its musical aspect but also as its core philosophy. Throughout the song, the dynamic changes are once again the protagonists as we alternate melodic death metal verses with d-beat choruses and a fantastic final breakdown… the perfect time to hit your best mate with a front kick to the chest during the action in the pit. Classic hardcore move!

5. Tu propia tumba:

Finally, our sailor realizes that all his previous life is behind him, that the experience has changed the person he was and made him lose everything he had. He has no choice but to go out onto the ice and into the polar wind until he meets his death.

Despite this somewhat dark ending, we are convinced that it proclaims a message of hope, that it is possible to realize how tied we are to external elements such as social networks, expectations, jobs, and mortgages..., which are the real causes of the destruction of everything we have around us. The ability to value what we build day by day and live each moment in its fullness can be the liberating factor that helps us break these chains.

This track is probably the most complete of the whole EP due to the multitude of dynamic changes that the listener is confronted with. It is only two minutes long, but a lot of things happen throughout the track. From some choruses that remind us of sailors rowing, fast and aggressive parts inherited from melodic death metal, and the slowest break of the whole EP that ends in an epic and fast ending, reminiscent of the vitaminized hardcore of the early Comeback Kid.

6. Popa (Deck):

Our bass player Jorge, who is quite fond of instrumental post-rock bands like This Will Destroy You or God Is An Astronaut, composed a short instrumental and dreamlike outro evoking the loneliness of the arctic winter, a perfect ending for the EP.