Philadelphia’s VARIALS — Skyler Conder, vocals; Shane Lyons, guitar; Mike Foley, bass; Sean Rauchut, drums — re-entered the chat in a massively metallic way in 2025 by announcing their new album WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES. The album will arrive on February 27 via Fearless Records. Today, they release the brand new single and video “The Hurt Chamber.”
The song moves at a measured and deliberate pace, and it’s one of the most melodic songs in the band’s catalog. With this track, Varials, known for erecting impenetrable walls of sound and for trafficking in pure metallic fury, prove that heavier-than-granite music doesn’t always have to mean fast. Heavy can also be slow and steady — and memorable. The beautifully eerie, keys-driven fade out could serve as the background music in the creepiest scene in your favorite psychological thriller.
“The Hurt Chamber is a song strictly about being addicted to a high that is inevitably difficult to break,” says Conder. “Whether that be love, drugs, or a certain type of situation, you become blind to what’s happening, all of the bad disappears because it always feels amazing. But it’s doing nothing but harming you throughout every time you become close to it. The ache becomes a salvation of sorts. You enter the hurt chamber and you never want to leave.”
Conder cut his vocals for the single in one take, and on his first try. That’s a rarity but the immediacy is felt in the song. And it just…worked. The band recalls, “We debated amongst ourselves on trying different ideas and melodies and adding/changing small things, but ultimately decided the original take was too good and shouldn’t be messed with.”
WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES TRACK LISTING:
Where The Light Leaves
No Lie Untouched
Illusions of Loss
Conscious Collapse
Your Soul Feeds
The Hurt Chamber
[wouldyoufollowme]
Silent Demise
Blissful End
Romance II
Metanoia
I’ll Find the Dark
[intothequiet]
Varials On Line:
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