Progressive extreme metal project Annihilus Mundi have pulled back the curtain on their latest single, “A Hedgehog’s Dilemma”. The track comes complete with a new animated music video and gives us another look at what to expect from the upcoming sophomore album, The Dead Sea Scrolls.
The title “A Hedgehog’s Dilemma” draws from a metaphor by German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer—and will likely be familiar to anime fans as an episode title from Neon Genesis Evangelion. The idea is that humans are like hedgehogs: we want to get close for warmth, but our “spines” (think trauma and anxieties) end up hurting those we care about. The song focuses on Shinji, the protagonist of Evangelion, and how he uses social masking as a shield to keep people at a distance.
Musically, it’s a bit of a beast. It mixes ferocious death metal rhythms with soaring orchestral arrangements and melodies that wouldn’t feel out of place in the Romantic era. Daniel Saillant, the brains behind the project, explained that because Shinji plays the cello, he decided to compose the track in a historically accurate classical sonata form. It’s definitely a step up in ambition from the previous single, “Absolute Terror”, and shows just how progressive the new record is going to be.
Formed back in 2018, Annihilus Mundi is the brainchild of Saillant, who handles pretty much everything from vocals to programming. If you’re a fan of bands like Cynic, Deafheaven, or Dream Theater, this mix of shoegaze, death metal, and prog should be right up your street. The new album, The Dead Sea Scrolls, is a deeply personal piece of work for Daniel, using the lens of Hideaki Anno’s legendary anime to explore his own lived experiences.
The track was produced, mixed, and mastered by Daniel himself at Wailing Pines Productions. If you want to dive down the rabbit hole, check out the video below and see what you think. It’s a proper trip.
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