Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of V Reviews. My name is V. And in this latest music video review, I will be covering the band DAMNED’s hauntingly badass track “Thanatosis”.
To start things off, here is a short primer on the band. They are a ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) band that lies on the darker side of the genre sound wise. They first came on the scene in early 2022 under the guise of VELTRO before changing to their final name of DAMNED as of September 16, 2022. And just like their name change they have gone through several line up changes. The most recent of which are the departure of their original vocalist Keigo as of November 11, 2023 and the same for the guitarist 瑶 (You) as of June, 28, 2023.
Their current line up consists of 一音 (Hitone, vocals), Kou. (guitar), 酔花 (Suica, guitar), 咲薇 (Sakura, bass), and Masaya (drums). 一音 (Hitone) and 酔花 (Suica ) were both officially welcomed into the band as of January 12, 2024, coinciding with the release of their single “Anemone“.
Before then 酔花 (Suica) had served as support guitarist in lieu of 瑶 (You) after his departure from the band.
One thing that I do have to touch on here is the meaning of the name of the track. I feel that it’s quite fitting before we dig into the meat in of the video. “Thanatosis” according to Merriam-Webster, is “a state that resembles shock, is characterized by cessation of all voluntary activity and usually by the assumption of a posture suggestive of death, occurs in various insects when disturbed.” The term is otherwise known as ‘death feigning.’
As for the lyrics themselves, they make one wonder what the writer might have gone through in their life to come up with this. There is a achingly poetic tone to them that draw you in no matter the language. And as for the atmosphere of the video, it adds to the feeling of desolation, loss of hope. And yet there is a beauty in it, snowy winter in the middle of the bone dry forest.
This is where the video begins with a hypnotic piano intro before the guitars, bass and drums begin. They serve to further set the scene before we are introduced to 一音 (Hitone)’s demonic sounding growls. Then about one minute in, we are treated to his clean melodic sounding voice. It’s really quite lovely. Then it shifts again to the harder sound and the combination of all five men’s talents. I must admit that I am more than a little bit partial when a band uses dueling guitars in their songs. And DAMNED does this in a pitch perfect portion of this song.
All in all this song and video have more than proven that DAMNED has potential for greatness beyond their age as a band. I can say with absolute certainty that I will be watching their career and releases with interest.
Follow DAMNED
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 (Hitone)   |  |  (Suica) |  (Sakura) |  |
V is a fellow Anime and ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) music lover.
Her love of both genres started in 2003, and as of 2023 she has now branched into reviews and other original content.
Her primary language is English.