Venera — the ambient experimental project helmed by Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer and composer/filmmaker Chris Hunt — have announced they’ve got a second album on the way. The duo’s sophomore effort, Exinfinite, is out in September, but they’ve previewing it now with a wavy new tune titled “Tear.”
The group announced the new project over socials this morning (July 10th), and it’s explained in press materials that the follow-up to Venera’s 2023 self-titled debut is reportedly “darker, heavier and more percussive than its predecessor.”
You can get a sense of things via the prismatically slapping “Tear,” the song beginning with ambient 7-string drones and symphonic ambiance before squelching itself towards electronic gloom and dissonance.
You can check out Venera’s slow-clapped sensory overload via the visualizer up above. Directed by EFFIXX with Samanta García, the ever-morphing visuals tap into a slick, techno-organic sci-fi aesthetic that recalls the Promethean Engineers, with a dash of the Phantom of the Paradise and Eighties roller-ball arcade classic Marble Madness thrown in for good measure.
As for the rest of Exinfinite, the album is said to find Venera “ruminating on the limits of existence and excavating their most deeply buried emotions,” vis-à-vis guitar layering and electronic expressionism. The record was made between Los Angeles, California and Atlanta, Georgia, and also finds Shaffer and Hunt joined by guest vocalists including gothic ruler Chelsea Wolfe (“All Midnights”), FKA twigs (“Caroline”) and Dis Fig (“End Uncovered”).
Exinfinite is out September 12th, but can be pre-saved on major streamers and pre-ordered digitally on Bandcamp as of right now.