Khonsu reveal ´"behind the scenes" of the video for "Visions of Nehaya"

KHONSU is a groundbreaking and innovative extreme metal band hailing from Bergen, Norway that features guest appearances by members of KEEP OF KALESSIN and MANES. Their music has a distinctive dark futuristic twist and delivers a sinister blend of metal and electronic elements. On November 18th, KHONSU release their second, upcoming new album "The Xun Protectorate" via Jhator Recordings/PHD.

Today, the band reveals an 8-minute "behind the scenes" trailer about the video shooting for their new track "Visions of Nehaya". Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vkMjHDWuy34

"We recorded the video in 2014 in an abandoned psychiatric hospital that was operational from 1872 - 1990. There were suicides and also violent outbursts there, and the doctors and staff used treatment methods that we today view as horrifying and dehumanizing", commented S. Gronbech and explains: "Even though the methods were horrible, they were actually carried out in the belief that they might cure psychiatric illness. For example, patients were locked into freezing baths to try to "shock" insanity out of them. And they were also locked into warm baths for several days at a time. There were also used electroshock, where seizures were electrically induced in patients while sitting strapped in a chair. And the other patients stood in a line and watched this happen, while waiting for their turn."

Staff also injected milk into patients blood stream to create high fever, because that made them calmer, and also induced insulin shock. "We were lucky to rent this place to shoot our video, and it was a very creepy place. We stayed there for a day and filmed mainly two scenes: T'ol screaming and shouting in chains, and doctors operating on some kind of monsterlike specimen hanging in chains from the ceiling, that had all of it's guts in a plastic bag that was attached to the head."

The video was produced by Gammaglimt video productions, who also produced the black metal documentary "Blackhearts", which just recently was released. This documentary features members from GORGOROTH, DARKTHRONE, IMMORTAL and KEEP OF KALESSIN a.o. and has been shown on theaters all around the world.

KHONSU recently released their first digital single "A Jhator Ascension". Enjoy it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/E5_iwqCsiIg. Order it digitally here: https://itunes.apple.com/no/album/a-jhator-ascension-single/id1155939648?l=nb

"When I wrote the track "A Jhator Ascension", it started with playing the theme of the first riff on keyboards. I thought that this could fit both as a high speed riffing part, but also just as a slow and electronic part. Therefore, as people will hear when the album is released, the intro is the same theme as this first riff", explains S. Gronbech and continues: "I am very satisfied with this song. It's compact, flows very naturally and has a strong sense of wholeness. Besides that, it is probably the most traditional black metal track on the album, and a great opening track as well. As people might have realised by now, I really like mixing the beautiful and tender with the brutal and raw. Mixing these different elements, beacame typical for Khonsu."

The album as a whole is about a city in space, and “A Jhator Ascension” is about the process of justification for the protagonist of the story as he is about to drive this vessel into the sun. Some sort of religious delusion also grows in him, as he realises he has power over life and death.

Jhator is the name of a Tibetan burial practise called 'sky burial'. In this funerary practise a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements and animals – especially predatory birds.

KHONSU - "The Xun Protectorate"

1. Desolation City (Prologue)
2. A Jhator Ascension
3. The Observatory
4. Liberator
5. Death Of The Timekeeper
6. The Tragedy Of The Awakened One
7. Visions Of Nehaya
8. A Dream Of Earth
9. Toward the Devouring Light
10. The Unremembered (Epilogue)

Release: November, 18th

The album concept was written by S. Gronbech and Torstein Parelius (MANES, CHTON), who also wrote the storyline and lyrics. "It's a concept album set several centuries into the future, after earth is gone and human kind continues it’s existence on a sort of space station or “city” in orbit around the sun", commented S. Gronbech and continues: "It’s a dystopian setting and a story about the end of mankind, when this cosmic city is driven into the sun by a clone who starts to feel he has a special mission to accomplish."

"The diversity of ideas on this album is probably unlike anything heard before in the metal world", added Gronbech. "One moment one may be listening to the most hellish Black Metal with screams of torture, while in the next beautiful and mystic passages inviting melancholic contemplation."

The artwork was created by Adrien Bousson and reflects the many faces of KHONSU. "Expect a monumental record that will challenge even the most open minded listeners. It should be enjoyed without prejudice and mental limitations, and it’s an hour-long journey of dark, strange, and desolate atmospheres where you never will be able to predict what's coming next."

More on "The Xun Protectorate":

• Teaser #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pglis3IXzNs
• Teaser #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mniPiDBbZTE
• Video Clip "Visions of Nehaya": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7i7GoFBkkQ