Ahead of their next studio album, “Saddiction”, due on February 14th, 2025, via Nuclear Blast, French doom metal pioneers Hangman’s Chair are back in full force with “Kowloon Lights”. This powerful, shoegaze-influenced track, with its disconcerting guitar riff, is a direct reference to the city destroyed in the 90s.
Hangman’s Chair comments about “Saddiction”: “‘Saddiction’ is the contraction of 2 words, sadness and addiction. It means the addiction to sadness. 7th effort of the band, for us, ‘Saddiction’ is the second album of the new trilogy started with ‘A Loner’ back in 2022 and it’s the logical continuity. Keeping up with the cold, massively reverbed and chorused atmosphere but now mixed with what Hangman’s Chair has been known for, the heaviness and the low tuned sound, thanks to the magical sound engineer Francis Caste, once again. Valnoir of Metastazis designed the cover and resumed what the identity of Hangman’s Chair is all about in its purest form, concrete, pavement, bleakness and ultra modern solitude of the Parisian ‘banlieue’. Now, please don’t blame us for your saddiction. It has always been here. In your hearts, February 14th 2025”.
Hangman’s Chair continues about “Kowloon Nights”: “Walking hand in hand into ‘Kowloon Lights’ in a no moon night, at a loss. Where the neons replaces the sunlight. Like in a Gaspard Noe’s film, ‘Into The Void’, we discover every lost souls hiding behind their windows appartment. Each of them with their own vices, regrets and dreams. Your home has become the barrel of a gun and finally the bones of your body become the only neons that enlight the lost souls of the city. Dehn Sora remarkably designed this 3D video for our new single, a glimpse of the new album ‘Saddiction’”.
Watch the official video for “Kowloon Lights” below.
Pre-order & pre-save “Saddiction” here.
Tracklist:
1. To Know the Night
2. The Worst is Yet to Come
3. In Disguise
4. Kowloon Lights
5. 2 AM Thoughts (feat. Dool)
6. Canvas
7. Neglect
8. 44 YOD
9. Healed?
Hangman’s Chair, formed in 2005 in Paris, are one of the most unique sounding Doom Rock bands currently active. Through the years, they have found and fine-tuned their own sonic brand, somewhere at the crossroads between Type O Negative, Life Of Agony and Sisters Of Mercy, to name a few, mixed with a certain street credibility connected to the group’s roots in hardcore. Each album takes its strength and essence from the band members’ life experiences, which they portrait with unflinching honesty. Whether it is the loss of band members, drug overdoses or the hardships of living in suburban Paris, all those human emotions resonate within each of their songs as they embrace the darkness and transform it into something beautiful, heavy and melancholic.
Line-up:
Julien Chanut – Guitar
Cédric Toufouti – Guitar, Vocals
Mehdi Thepegnier – Drums
Clément Hanvic – Bass
