“Pestilence” is the second video and single off Arched Fire’s second album Trust Betrayal, to be released in the spring of 2023. The b-side “Mr. Death” is not on the album. Lyrically, “Pestilence” observes a pandemic from a societal point of view. Among other things, a virus is a handy tool in politics. “As people gather closer to each other, diseases rise from poor hygiene. People want to find someone to blame for the disease”, says Kristian, the band’s singer and main lyricist. “The main principle in magic is to direct your attention to somewhere else while you do the trick. This is what some people in charge may use to their advantage,” he continues. Musically “Pestilence” is a pure heavy metal song with some speed/thrash influences. “Some ideas, or shall we say primitive versions of them, are so old that I would bore everybody by rambling about how they’ve evolved from a mournful arpeggio intro to a twisted middle-part riff and so on, but let’s not go there,” says Ari, the rhythm guitar player. “Let’s just say that we found some ancient stuff of ours that really clicked with some of our latest riffs, and ta-dah, we had this killer new song called ‘Pestilence’.” The song features some fiery vocals from Tim “Ripper” Owens (Ripper, Judas Priest, Iced Earth, etc.). “I heard Ripper for the first time when Judas Priest’s Jugulator came out and I loved that record”, says Kristian. ’Cathedral Spires’ was my favorite tune because of Ripper’s high screams. I used to blast my stereos and sing along with him. I could not even dream that 25 years later he would sing with me on our album. It’s totally awesome and incredible to have Ripper featured in our song. Great respect and gratitude to him!” Arched Fire Is Kristian Herkman (vocals), Aslak Purojärvi (drums), Mika Rytilahti (bass), Janne Särkelä (lead & rhythm guitar) and Ari Väntänen (rhythm guitar). Musically, Arched Fire is where heavy metal meets speed metal. The prologue of the band took place in 1989–1990 when a bunch of school kids formed Arched Fire in Finnish Lapland. Thirty years later they got back together and recorded their acclaimed first album Remote Control, out on Wormholedeath Records in 2021. The band’s second full-length effort Trust Betrayal, out in 2023, takes their old-school metal game to a whole new level.

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