Belarusian sludge/doom/death metal band Matraque has released the official music video for “Volya,” a track from their debut album Nature Morte, out now via Lithuania’s Ashen Tree Records. The video dropped yesterday, May 12, 2025, on YouTube, following the album’s release on May 1. The 6:14 track, sung in Belarusian, embodies the band’s crushing sound—low, sluggish masses of sound interspersed with mid-tempo bursts—drawing from influences like Grief, Primitive Man, and Body Void.
Formed in Minsk in spring 2023, Matraque—comprising members with past projects like Rowan, Televoid, and krvvla—channels anger into despair through a hostile sonic landscape. Recorded at Chili Records and Zeleniy Lug in Minsk, mixed and mastered by Alexander G. at Gasprodmusic, with art by Marta Shcherbich, Nature Morte has earned praise for its oppressive intensity, with Metal Temple calling it “hopelessly dreadful, in every good sense.” The video for “Volya,” the album’s fourth track, amplifies this dread, though its abstract, alienating style might not resonate with those seeking more accessible visuals.
The album is available on cassette and digital formats at ashentreerecords.bandcamp.com, with a limited-edition digipack CD arriving around May 25. “Volya” offers a scarring glimpse into Matraque’s bleak world. Stream it now!