Crying Vessel’s “Left For Dead” is an Unsettling Portrayal of the Human Consequences of the Dystopian Near Future

Crying Vessel, photo courtesy the artists

Crying Vessel tapped into the realm of nightmares in writing “Left For Dead” with a music video that is as unsettling as any recent horror movie but without the explicit brutality. The pounding, syncopated beat with the sounds of striking metal sounds like the inside of some macabre factory and in this case maybe for producing human-machine hybrids designed for a mysterious purpose as the processed vocals sound like a person confused by the modifications imposed on his body and what the people who did that to him want. Scorching, distorted synths along with the images of unusual lights, wires coming out of body parts, charts of the same, enigmatic symbols and diagrams of the ways in which a human body is going to be altered or rather mutilated for unimaginable and clearly monstrous purposes. We hear how the person who is narrating the song can’t find his feet, he smells blood, is stranded in the mud, feels his skin—a mosaic of sensory impressions that hit so vividly in the song. In moments the song is reminiscent in structure, dynamic and mood of Nine Inch Nails’ song “We’re In This Together” but aesthetically it has the grimy, gritty and shocking sensibility of the “The Subject” segment of the 2021 found footage horror anthology film V/H/S/94 which is both compelling and harrowing as is this song. Watch the video for “Left For Dead,” and doesn’t the title suggest the way many experiences in the work place and other areas of life feel like we’ve been treated as things to be used and then disposed, on YouTube, follow Crying Vessel at the links below and look out for the duo’s new album Before Life was Death out June 2022 on Cleopatra Records.

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