Swiss alternative rock duo Comastatic team up with Australian rock band Down and Out to deliver an intense new single, “Self Sabotage.”
Comastatic’s aim with their music is to cultivate a feeling that resembles “watching the world fall apart and not being able to change a single thing. Being paralyzed in an equilibrium of dead and alive.”
The two groups achieve this sound in “Self Sabotage,” integrating new-age technology elements with heavy guitar-driven melodies reminiscent of running at high speed, before leaning into screamo. This track emulates a combination of elements between alternative rock and pop punk bands that have come before them, mixing between Bring Me The Horizon, Waterparks, Bad Omens and Linkin Park.
The bands illustrate their self-destructive tendency as they declare not taking interest in containing themselves in their emotions. They sing, “I’ve got a heart shaped hole and I’m feeling untamed,” implying their lack of interest in prioritizing civility in their interactions and behaviors. The narrator prepares to let go of his defenses to drown his sorrows in alcohol, singing, “I’m about to crash and burn and I don’t give a fuck.” Eventually he declares, “I’m gonna live my life in director’s cut” to allow himself the liberty of letting go.
With a magnetic head-banging hook, they sing, “this sweet bitter taste at the bottom of the barrel / I can’t contemplate if I’m ever getting better / I love to say I hate the chase / But you know I’m not a liar.” The narrator grapples with the knowledge of his “self-sabotage” as he knows he cannot help but break down.
In the second verse, the narrator continues his attempt at controlling his inner demons with substances, offering up, “I gotta ask myself if it will ever be enough.” He later confirms he is willing to “start a war in [his] mind” with drugs for the sake of suppressing his emotions, comparing defeating his inner conflict with “kill[ing] the final boss.”
It is not until the final bridge where the singer unleashes, hoarse vocals screaming for escape in, “I’m about to crash and burn and I don’t give a fuck.”
Comastatic and Down and Out try to capture the battle between accepting one’s own triumphs and the mental obstacles that lead to destructive behaviors, preventing one from keeping a sense of peace or contentment with their own life.
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