Band: Mental Cruelty
Song: “The Serpent of Midgard”
Director: Robby Krings
Album: The Serpent of Midgard
Release Date: July 9th, 2026
Label: Century Media Records
Purchase/Stream:
The group issued the following on the release:
On last year’s ‘Helheim’, we expanded our instruments beyond typical deathcore fare (guitar, bass, drums and, of course, monstrous vocals) to include folk music’s talharpa, aiding in the telling of Norse mythology’s Hel. It’s only appropriate we continue darkening our sound with more black metal and melodeath inspirations as we tell the story of her brother, Jörmungandr, the titular ‘Serpent of Midgard,’ in his epic ocean battle with his uncle Thor. For those unfamiliar with the folklore, it ends in both of their demises: talk about family issues!
Musically, we wanted to capture the intensity of the conflict, with our guitarist Nahuel Lozano’s working title of ‘Gojibehe’ summing up key influences. You can guess those, but we’ll spell out the inspiration behind the chunky mid-section and the closest thing we get to a full-on breakdown here: our brothers Signs of the Swarm and the insane tones on their latest album!
But while we learned from bands we look up to and friends alike musically, sadly, we never learn from ourselves and once again shot the music video in subzero temperatures. The results are worth it — you can see for yourself — but damn, that was cold.
[Feat. image by: Josh Richter]