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The March Violets push subtlety and aggression into new dark realms with ‘Crocodile Promises’

The March Violets’ Crocodile Promises

After more than a decade between releases, the March Violets return with Crocodile Promises, a sleek and muscular new album that is as much a return to the group’s classic gothic rock and post-punk form as it is a bold step forward. The secret to the Violets’ success has long been their penchant for crafting undeniably catchy songs that thrive in an atmosphere of rich imagery and ambiance. Press play on the ‘80s hits: “Walk Into the Sun,” “Snakedance,” “Grooving In Green,” “Crow Baby,” et al. The art of balancing complex harmonies and melodies with lyrics steeped in perfectly compelling abstraction is the March Violets’ strong suit. For Crocodile Promises, core members vocalist Rosie Garland and guitar player Tom Ashton were joined by former Violets bass player Mat Thorpe (also of the group Isolation Division). Together, they fleshed out nine new numbers at Ashton’s SubVon Studios in the rural countryside near Athens, Georgia, where Ashton produced the record.


Crocodile Promises opens with “Hammer the Last Nail,” a song that’s bound by billowing and shadowy textures that slowly open up to reveal the album’s vast and majestic palette. Thick and undulating guitar riffs and constrictive hooks match Garland’s bewitching traipse into modern terrain. “Bite the Hand” and “Virgin Sheep” kick up the energy with a full-bore punk charge.

The “Kraken Awakes” and “Mortality” are slow-burners invoking tales of revenge and deceit. “This Way Out,” builds into a roaring and hypnotic groove, with its thumping beats and Garland’s pointed delivery.

The March Violets: Mat Thorpe (from left), Rosie Garland, and Tom Ashton. Photo courtesy Jace Media.

There’s a real sense of urgency at work in Crocodile Promises. The production is as subtle as it is sweeping when it needs to up the intensity, pushing heaviness, real-world angst, and aggression into new dark realms, alternating between understated tension and unleashed power.


The March Violets play the 2nd Annual Southern Gothic Festival at the 40 Watt Club in Athens October 25-26.

Friday, October 25
March Violets, Korine, Tears for Dying, House Of Ham, Vincas, Panic Priest, and Miss Cherry Delight. Find Friday night tickets here.

Saturday, October 26
The Chameleons, Vision Video, and Deceits. Find Saturday night tickets here.

Tickets for both nights can be found here.


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Vision Video: ‘Organized Murder’

Vision Video is back with a new video for “Organized Murder,” taken from the group’s debut album, Inked In Red.

This one ain’t for the faint of heart! “Organized Murder” is the fourth video released by Athens’ gothic rock luminaries, following videos for “Inked In Red,” “Comfort in the Grave,” and “Static Drone.” The song also bears the sharpest teeth when it comes to wrapping the group’s stylized mastery of darkness, light, and melodic hooks around a poignant statement. 

The song opens with a chilling bit of dialogue taken from make-up artist Tom Savini’s reimagining of the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead. Ben, a character played by actor Tony Todd, delivers these particularly chilling lines while coming to terms with the zombie apocalypse that’s unfolding around him: “This is something that nobody has ever heard about, and nobody has ever seen before. This is hell on Earth… This is pure hell on Earth.”

Set to director Erica Strout’s visual accompaniment, “Organized Murder” leaps into action as a fitting metaphor for what the group describes as America’s fetishization of “violence, force, and warfare on behalf of ‘the greater good.’”

A statement released with the video goes on to say that: “This is a representation of my experiences watching systematic violence used on behalf of morally bankrupt political ideologies to meet their ends and economic hegemony by military domination across the third world.”

Press play and let it sink in.

Read the Flagpole Magazine feature story, “Inked in Red: Vision Video Processes War, Trauma and Loss Through Goth Rock.”

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Entertainment: ‘Voyeur’


The Howling, The Beyond, Driller Killer, Evil Dead 2, The Legend of Boggy Creek, Slumber Party Massacre, Fright Night, The Fog …

If you were breathing oxygen in the ‘80s, merely mentioning these titles stirs up memories of youthful fascination, elation, and terror while staring at the artwork for these horror classics of the VHS era. “Voyeur,” the second single from Entertainment’s forthcoming Horror parts 1 and 2 EPs, pushes this aesthetic nostalgia to a deeper and darker place within the imagination.

As vocalist Trey Ehart explains, “‘Voyeur’ is probably the most direct reference on the EPs to being bored and young in rural suburbia, and spending time absorbing horror movies and skate tapes from the local VHS rental store.”

“Voyeur” falls on the heels of Entertainment’s previously released single, “Maggot Church,” and taps into a more severe sense of urgency before diving deeper into the rabbit hole of hazy and cinematic ambiance. Tom Ashton of the March Violets unfurls a rich, goth-tinged production, as Ehart’s heavily affected voice drives the song’s unhinged melancholy and dreamlike vibe with lyrics such as: “video stains my eyes,” “dreams returned too late, screams in the gages of youth,” “show me ways of new desire,” and “static shivers so strange.”

“Each lyric glamorizes the impact of being exposed to a life and music outside of mainstream culture with over saturated practical effects, unnecessarily gratuitous glimpses of nudity, and underground soundtracks,” Ehart says.

The song’s constrictive and alluring melodies grow increasingly more pronounced in the Candelabra Cage Match mix, which comes courtesy of Beta Machine’s bass player Matt McJunkins, who also performs with Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, Eagles of Death Metal, Poppy, and more.

Keep an eye out for the video, directed by John Breedlove of Hip To Death to arrive soon.

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