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New Album Release and a Despairing New Music Video

October 31st 2010

Hi friends,

The second Sons of Perdition album, "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead", will be officially released today, Sunday, October 31, to coincide with Samhain. "Psalms" is the spiritual brother of the first album (albeit inverted), "The Kingdom is on Fire". It was released on Easter Sunday a few years back. Anyways, "Psalms" is a miserable effort and I hope you lose some sleep over it. God knows I have.

The album has been available for members of SonsOfPerdition.com for awhile now, but it will now be available on iTunes and all those other sites. You can still get it cheaper from me, and it'll include lyrics and photos. Don't feel guilty about buying it elsewhere, though. You're supporting the hell out of me either way.

Because I'm not one to be stingy with the misery, I also made a video for "Psalm of Slumber", the final track from the new album. It's the first official Sons of Perdition music video, although some inexplicably kind souls have made their own videos in the past. I hope it isn't the last one I make.

I pieced it together using video from the Prelinger Archives. It's a document of despair. You've been warned.

You can view the video on YouTube by clicking here .

Your morose companion in the dark,
Zebulon Whatley

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Why I Make Downbeat Music and a Free Song Download

October 5th 2010

Hi friend.

I'm sometimes asked why I gravitate toward the moribund, always obsessing over the macabre. This is usually, though not by any means always, in regards to music. I usually shrug off the question, because frankly, it's nobody's goddamn business. I don't interrogate folks to find the psychological underpinnings of their need to watch romantic comedies. While none of their business it may be, I figured I'd write a bit about it to make it your business.

First and foremost, it's just what I do and what I've done for a good chunk of my life. I've played music since I was 15, and started recording a year later. I attempted writing other kinds of songs when I was first starting down that road of music self-expression. They were wretched, insincere things that I quickly choked out; the exact opposite of expression. This lack of sincerity was disrespectful of human emotion. There's a reason pop music is vapid and forgettable: it's entirely 2-dimensional. It's emotional rape: you will feel this way.

Dark music can just as easily fall into the trap of being flat and meaningless. If it's insincere, it's obvious (to some people, at least). Forcing yourself to live and work entirely within a narrow range of the dial is theater, regardless of which side of the dial you've chosen. I don't care for theater. This is why I don't sleep in a coffin, or spend my days crying incessantly and reading gothic poetry.

That being said, I fully admit that I usually listen to depressing music, read sad books and watch dour movies. While this isn't my exclusive media diet, I spend more time than most subjecting myself to it, ruminating on its themes and wallowing in its stifling atmosphere.

Without contrast, however, you can only take this so far. If you only listen to extreme music, it ceases to be extreme. It's castrated by its lack of context. Science books are my palate cleanser, my yardstick by which I can compare things. They're objective and often without tone. Going back to the metaphor of living on one side of the dial, they pull me back toward the center so I can see just how far I've slid. For the flipside of this, look at someone who only listens to extremist talk radio. The radio programs are robbed of their extreme context, becoming the center of the listener's dial and thus normal and unextreme. Then the listener, unaware of how far they've moved across the dial, plunges down a rabbithole from whence they'll likely never return.

Another reason I work on music is out of respect for the grieving, depressed and moribund. While I'm not one to melodramatically rend my clothes and gnash my teeth, there is legitimate cause for grief in this world. Hell, it can come at you by the bucket and the boxcar.

The lack of legitimate grief music is appalling. While listening to black metal when you're already on shaky emotional ground may send you hurtling over the brink, so too might the pop diva of the day. It may help to amplify rage (which can be a useful thing), but it won't always soothe you when you're wounded. This is because what's considered dark music isn't always applicable to every dark mood, given that we're dealing with an emotional spectrum, not a singularity. If you're lying on your deathbed, "Rainy Days and Mondays" may be more applicable than "Jesus' Tod". Or maybe not.

So basically, I'm doing my part to fill what I perceive are gaps in grief music. While I don't see myself as a therapist, I can rightly be called an interested party. As such, I do what I do.

As for the promised free song download, I'm giving you an acoustic version of "Psalm of Solitude". This one was recorded after the version on "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead". I had intended to release a free album in which this version would be included, but decided that I could just throw individual songs at you for awhile and accomplish the same thing. It's more stripped down than the album version; just two acoustic guitars and two voices. I didn't even use reverb.

To download the song, you have to have an account on www.sonsofperdition.com, which is easy enough to do. I don't share any of your info or anything like that, and may the Devil choke on my soul if I'm lying. Just log into your account and click on "My Account". It will be listed under "Free MP3s". This is where I'll continue to dump any free songs I feel like unleashing upon the world.

By the way, I'll be posting "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead" on iTunes, CDBaby and some other sites on October 31. Until then, the album will remain exclusive to friends of www.sonsofperdition.com. Even then, you'll only be able to download the PDF of artwork, photos and lyrics from this site. It really completes the album. Besides, it's cheaper here.

Your sallow friend,

Zebulon Whatley

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O Hosanna, the new Sons of Perdition album is finally here!

September 6th 2010

Ahoy, gentle lambs.

After slaving away for an incalculable number of hours/days/weeks/months/years, I'm finally releasing "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead". It's only available as a download because I'm giving up the material trappings of this world in my ongoing quest to become an esoteric adept. For now, anyways, it won't exist in corporeal form.

The release of the album coincides with a thorough revamp of www.SonsOfPerdition.com, wherein I updated a lot of content and added a shopping cart that allows me to sell you music for a lot cheaper. Thank the good LORD and Seth Fleming for collaborating on it.

The new site also lets me give you exclusive free tracks and anything else I feel fit to hand over. You just have to create an account on the site, which is free and secure. If you already have an account, just log in and click on "My Account" over on the right under "Options". This free track, "O Daughter of Babylon", is listed under "Free MP3s". Aside from dimming your day, this free song lets you see how the new shopping cart works without feeling like you're gambling your soul away.

If you listen to the ghastly croak of your conscience and buy the full album of "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead", you also get a PDF of lyrics and photos that will make the most hard-hearted of men weep and rend their clothes. It comes automatically with the download. The whole shebang is available for the holy low price of $7.77, because Jesus just wouldn't let me charge anything more for a ticket down that road of ruin.

I implore you to take a few minutes to poke around the new site. Shine a candle in every corner and peer intently into every inky shadow. Hell, get the new album or even just the free song while you're there. Let this new music hide the lowly sound of your tears as they soak into the dusty floorboards.

Your guiding light in the encroaching darkness,
Zebulon Whatley
www.sonsofperdition.com

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Any interest in a free album?

November 19th 2009

Folks are broke, the world's going to shit, and it's been too damned long since we've properly released anything.

With these thoughts swirling through my brain, I talked to Jesus. He told me to give you folks a free album to alleviate (or amplify) your sorrows. Please note, this isn't a contest. It's just a free, download-only album to be distributed freely through whatever avenues are available (so long as nobody makes a dime on it). Everybody wins. Except Satan.

I haven't recorded it yet. Before I did, I wanted to have a bit of an open forum with you. The question is whether this would be an all-around good thing, or if it would somehow cheapen the music.

What I'm envisioning is mostly just new, stripped down recordings of some songs we've previously done with a couple of traditional songs and maybe a newly written song or two. It won't be anything too fancy. Artwork will be included.

Would this help you stave off swallowing a gun barrel for another day or is Satan interfering with my thought patterns again? Also worth noting: we're going to release "Psalms for the Spiritually Dead" either way.

Please leave your ideas below and let's see if we can't figure this one out.

Your fellow conspirator against Moloch's armies,
Zebulon Whatley

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