Today, German-based alternative outfit SEVEN BLOOD have released their debut single and music video for ‘Killing from the Inside’, produced by Anfy Hartmann, mixed by Dan Weller (EnterShikari, HoldingAbsence, BuryTomorrow) and mastered by Dick Beetham, is available for streaming now.
The track is based on the experience of witnessing sociopathic behaviour in other people and, in doing so, making vocalist Azaria Nasiri question her own actions, too. ‘Killing From The Inside’s naked openness is apparent from its opening moments, which find Azaria singing: “I hate myself / Confused as hell / Don’t know where it came from / Or, in fact, where it will go.” Those words had begun life a full year before, not even as lyrics but as a pure expression of emotion written in private journals revealing Azaria’s state of mind. “It was tough for me, for sure,” she says about opening up in such a way to new bandmates in their very first practice. “But I felt safe and supported, too.”
About SEVEN BLOOD:
SEVEN BLOOD are a band born from a collective moment of personal crisis, who now want to provide the soundtrack to recovery for fans going through their own traumatic times. The quartet’s deeply personal songs lay bare the stories of the contrasting life journeys of its members. Born just a couple of years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and growing up in the former German Democratic Republic powerhouse of Suhl, guitarist Oli Arnold and drummer Anfy Hartmann knew only their home city’s slow and brutal urban decline. “Growing up in such an environment, in a ghost town, played a bigger role than I ever anticipated,” Oli says. “It’s only really now, being able to look back, that I realise how big an impact it had on me.”
Crumbling infrastructure and unemployment was rife; the opportunity promised following Germany’s unification never truly materialising. Instead, the once booming munitions factories were abandoned, making for dangerous playgrounds for the city’s youth long before they were old enough to leave the city behind in search of something more from life. Punk, metal and emo became the soundtrack to their disillusionment. “That music really fit the mood and atmosphere that hung over the city,” Oli says. And so, at 18 years of age, Oli and Anfy packed their bags once and for all, heading 350km north to Berlin in order to immerse themselves in a live music scene that was otherwise completely alien to them.
Germany’s capital was home to Azaria Nasiri, though SEVEN BLOOD’s future vocalist struggled to see it that way. The daughter of a Moroccan mother and Iranian father, who had fled Iran during the revolution in the 1970s, Azaria spent her youth fighting to understand her place. “Growing up there was a lot of frustration and insecurity as I always felt like I could not fully identify with my world around me,” Azaria says. “I came from two very different cultural backgrounds, and lived in another one entirely, which left me feeling like I was always looking for somewhere to belong and never truly finding it.”
It would take many years for the trio to come together in SEVEN BLOOD in the sprint of 2023 – bassist Josi Hille joining later still – with the musicians finding one other while each stood at a personal, emotional and creative crossroads. “Seven Blood was born of each of us suffering personal crises and holding a desire to use music to help us process and overcome those events,” Oli says. With the band’s vision for a heavy hitting yet highly melodic sound still many months from being refined, the only focus in their early rehearsal sessions was to be as open and honest with each other as possible, and to channel their personal and collective pain into songs.
That, ultimately, is SEVEN BLOOD’s mission: to provide that same safety and support for fans to find their own empowerment through vulnerability. It’s about creating a bond between band and fan built on respect and understanding of the life experiences that have shaped us all. And it’s about finding peace and positivity in whatever unique challenges that journey has thrown at you. This is the SEVEN BLOOD way, the band’s forthcoming body of music peeling back the layers of its members’ own personal stories and perspectives, soundtracked by riff-driven music that draws from influences as diverse Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, Paramore, Nirvana, Sleep Token and My Chemical Romance and yet which is distinctly SEVEN BLOOD.
“One of our key ambitions was to create a unique sound that can take all of those heavy influences but also draw from acts like Fleetwood Mac and Boy Genius,” Oli says. “For us it is less about what things <sound> like and more about the <mood> and the <feeling> the music creates, and whether that helps tell our stories. We are still exploring what Seven Blood can be and where it can creatively go – and that is what makes every day exciting.”
Band Members:
Azaria Nasiri – vocals
Oli Arnold – guitar
Anfy Hartmann – drums
Josi Hille – bass