True crime-inspired nu-industrial duo SKYND have been busy this year, having unleashed the haunting "Mary Bell" some six years after its first live performance. Bucking the trend of their last few years, which have seen two to three songs released each year, the two have released their second song in as many months with the dramatic "Andrei Chikatilo," named for the Butcher of Rostov.
Chikatilo was a vile individual, having been charged with fifty-three murders and multiple sexual assaults ranging from 1978 to 1990, before his arrest in 1992. He would confess to many more, but was ultimately convicted of fifty-two of them, sentenced to execution in 1994 via gunshot wound. His life and crimes have been the subject of documentaries and podcasts the world over, serving as one of the bleakest stories in human history.
As such, the music video, directed by Peter Leukhardt, is steeped in red, for Russia and for the blood spilled by the song and video's monstrous muse. The song is a pulsing, electronic jam, with producer Father's world-building and soundscape craft at its peak here. It's heavy without guitars or harsh vocals, adding to an aura of "monster in plain sight" that comes with the subject matter. After the aforementioned "Mary Bell" and the swaying "Aileen Wuornos" from last spring, we were due for something out-and-out unsettling, and SKYND have brought just that.
Check out the music video below:
SKYND are gearing up for their Dead Serious tour, with the following dates announced:
04/05 Frankfurt, DE
04/06 Utrecht, NL
04/07 Ghent, BE
04/08 Paris, FR
04/10 Manchester, UK
04/11 London, UK
04/13 Oberhausen, DE
04/14 Leipzig, DE
04/15 Stuttgart, DE
04/17 Hamburg, DE
04/18 Copenhagen, DK
04/20 Oslo, NO
04/21 Stockholm, SE
04/23 Tampere, FI
04/24 Helsinki, FI
04/25 Warsaw, PL
04/27 Berlin, DE
04/28 Prague, CZ
04/29 Munich, DE
04/30 Vienna, AT
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