Ne Obliviscaris share video for epic 12-minute new song Equus

Australian prog metallers Ne Obliviscaris have released the first new music from their upcoming album Exul, with a striking video for the epic 12-minute opening track to the album, Equus, which you can watch below.

Last week the Melbourne quintet announced that they would release Exul through Season Of Mist on March 24.

"Equus is dedicated to the lives lost during the lethal bush fires that scarred Australia in 2019-2020," the band explain. "Alongside the people who died or were affected, many millions, if not billions, of animals were killed or displaced from their natural habitats, the enormity of this is something that will never be forgotten, and should not be ignored. It is also a warning that the world we live in is changing from the damage we as a species have contributed to. Within this video, the dancer represents a scorched Mother Earth, from horror to humanity, ever in tune with the heart and flow of the song (and world), and ultimately aware of the inevitable and ever growing destructive cycle we are in."

The band also admit that the period creating the follow-up to 2017's acclaimed Urn was challenging to say the least, with the band facing death, relationships breaking down, despair and financial loss, with Presland, the band’s drummer since 2005, amicably departing in early 2022, with clean vocalist and violinist Tim Charles admitting the period “came close to breaking us completely.”

The quintet have announced European and UK tour dates for May and June with Andoran prog metallers Persefone, with support for the first part of the tour coming from Italian prog metallers Asymmetric Universe and the second half with fellow Australian proggers The Omnific.

“Simply getting the opportunity to perform music that we’ve written on stages around the world to people that genuinely love and connect with it," adds Charles. “There is something incredibly special about the energy that exists between an artist and audience at a concert and it’s an honour to get the opportunity to spend 2023 connecting with people in that way once more.”

Pre-order Exul.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.