Northern Irish death/doom band The Crawling have released a video for “Bound To The Negative (Requiem),” the second and closing track on their new EP What We Leave Behind, out since October 2 via Grindscene Records. The song is a full acoustic reinvention of a track from their 2023 album All Of This For Nothing.
Guitarist and vocalist Andy Clarke says the new version happened almost by accident:
“I received an acoustic guitar as a present, and initially wasn’t really sure what to do with it. I sent it to my guitar tech to have it tuned down to B, so I could experiment with some existing Crawling songs. Almost immediately, I started playing ‘Bound To The Negative’, and it really lent itself to the acoustic arrangement.”
Andy Clarke
Clarke recorded a version, kept it to himself for about a year, and only revisited it after the band tracked the EP’s other song, “A Song To Nurse The Sickness.” The theme of nostalgia tied them together. “We were looking back at a song we already knew, but rewriting and reinterpreting it, much like we do with our own memories,” he says, admitting that singing entirely clean felt “incredibly exposed” without the death metal vocals.
Twenty Minutes at Midnight
Clarke and bassist Adrien Crozet shot the video on a cold night in their city, with very limited lighting and only about twenty minutes of battery power. “That forced us to work quickly, and the whole thing is quite raw as a result,” Clarke explains. “I think it captures the loneliness of looking back on things. No one knows how you see the past.”
About The Crawling
Formed in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in winter 2014, The Crawling are Andy Clarke (guitars, vocals), Adrien Crozet (bass) and Ant Deane (drums). Their albums include Wolves And The Hideous White and All Of This For Nothing. What We Leave Behind was recorded, mixed and mastered in-house, with drums tracked at The Parlour Recording Studios, and is available on CD, cassette and digital.
Tour Dates
- October 24: Dublin, Fibber Magees
- October 25: Limerick, Siege of Limerick
- October 31: Halifax, Albany Arcade
- November 1: Oxford, Rabidfest
- November 26: Southampton, Suburbia
- November 27: London, Helgi’s
- November 28: Nottingham, Tap & Tumbler
- November 29: Cardiff, Eradicationfest
- December 5: Wolverhampton, Bloodstock Winter Gathering at K.K.’s Steel Mill
Our Take
Stripping a death/doom song down to an acoustic guitar and a clean voice is a real risk, and The Crawling pull it off because the melancholy was always at the heart of their music. The raw, battery-limited video suits the song perfectly. It is a brave detour that makes you hear the original differently.
