Melbourne metalcore outfit, Vatic share a solemn side to their forthcoming concept EP Mercer 217 with the new single The Colour In Your Eyes. Premiering exclusively via Kill Your Stereo today, The Colour In Your Eyes follows a tale that began with 217 and continued with No Sleep.
Presenting a moment of solemn realisation for Chance, the protagonist of the Mercer 217 concept, The Colour In Your Eyes offers a point of difference from the short, thundering No Sleep and the haunting 217. To fully understand The Colour In Your Eyes beyond its surface-level sonic excellence, you need to delve deeper into the Mercer 217 concept.
In celebration of the release of The Colour In Your Eyes Vatic vocalist Matt Payne invited us into the band's haunted house, providing a detailed guide to Mercer 217.
Vatic Invite You Into Their Haunted House
Mercer 217 by Matt Payne (heavy vocals)
Who is Vatic?
"We started as a fun project between friends and have spent the last four years developing our songs and performances together. We are super excited to invite you to the next chapter, Mercer 217. We are Adam, Dinesh, Dylan, Matt and Zak. We have a very dynamic range of musical influences that we lean on throughout our songwriting process. We combine our collective interests and in turn, end up with our own unique take on the metalcore sound. From the very beginning, Mercer 217 sets out to be a collection of tracks dedicated to horror fans and we hope we captured the soundscapes and feelings that we feel when watching the classics. Mercer 217 is an ode to our favourite genre."
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The Story So Far
"Mercer 217 is a new conceptual release for Vatic, an idea that we started playing with after we released our first EP, Inhibition in 2019. We had a lot of fun crafting lyrics around a character rather than opinions or current affairs, which opened us up to a whole world of creative options. The sound took on a darker and spookier vibe as well, so we really just lent into it. It also happened to fall around the time the lockdowns started in Victoria, so we were spending a lot of time writing music and watching horror movies so the concept just seemed to fit. The overarching story is set at East Mercer, 217; the home of our protagonist Chance, a man who is haunted, tormented and manipulated into horrific acts of violence. The songs tell a tale of the bodies he hides inside his home, the fact soon becomes clear they are not buried properly leading to their spirits living on at East Mercer."
The Concept
"Mercer 217 starts with a young Chance, plagued by images of his own murder when he looks at his reflection in a mirror hidden in the house. The story follows Chance’s gradual downfall as he continues to live his life with the knowledge of his demise, believing the premonitions to be true and slowly begins plotting ways to keep himself safe, even from those closest to him. As his home falls apart, literally and figuratively, his loved ones die and he fills the walls of his home with his victims, and as the body count grows, so do the visions."
"Chance is a man looking for purpose and safety, faced with his own mortality. We explore just what lengths he will go to and his shift from an unsuspecting young man to a menacing monster. He deals with loss, rage, paranoia, detective investigations, timely getaways and ultimately his end, which he is tortured with through visions."
What's Next
The next step in Chance's story is The Colour In Your Eyes. This third instalment deals with the first loss Chance has had to deal with, despite his grizzly intentions. We’re very excited to share more of Chance’s story and our creative vision for Mercer 217. Without giving too much away before you see it for yourself, we’re looking forward to translating our story through a few different mediums and bringing it to life in our live performance. We’re arranging for a unique performance and a celebration of our release that will be announced towards the end of the year. We can’t wait to share our visions - and Chance’s - with our listeners!"
Mercer 217 will be released on 21 October.
Collectively 217 and No Sleep have accumulated over 30,000 digital streams and counting alongside radio play from both triple j The Racket and triple j short.fast.loud. Between both tracks, they have been met with Spotify playlisting on release from Homegrown + Heavy, All New Metal and Knotfest Festival's curated playlist Pulse Of The Maggots.
Beginning in 2018, Vatic have built their foundations creating sonically dark and gloomy backdrops that balance their bittersweet, melodic choruses with aggressive and tormented screams. The band exists with the longstanding lineup of Matt Payne (vocals), Dylan Houston (drums) , Zakary Luttrell (bass/vocals), Dinesh Wolfe (guitar) and Adam Bonnefin (guitar). The quintet have expanded their following with the help of their electric live show, where they have previously joined the likes of Australian alternative heavyweights including Thornhill, Bloom, Diamond Construct, Void of Vision, Pridelands and more.
The quintet have developed and refined their sound over the years, placing their listeners in a daze of melancholic atmosphere and unrelenting guitar riffs that pierce through the guise of industrial breakdowns and grooves, giving plenty more to be expected from Vatic in 2022.
