Single Alert: Mind Funeral "Clockwork"
Texoma's Black Sabbath-inspired doom outfit delivers a gut punch
We first heard Clockwork, the second single from Mind Funeral, when the group made their live debut at the Iron Horse Pub in late 2024, and we waited patiently for it to arrive on streaming services, which it did in January 2025.
It was worth the wait.
The song starts as a Sabbath-inspired gallop with Walden singing in a register that emulates Ozzy to a degree that it’s noticeable, but not so similar that you’d consider it copped. Tyler Farmer absolutely kills on lead guitar, and Peter Skulski plays some “lead bass,” virtuosic, but nicely deep in the mix. Ryan Meek’s drumming supplies precise and crucial “clockwork,” and when the song drops into doomy climactic moments with Walden supplying a banshee howl in the background, the whole thing comes together.
When asked how long the song has been around, lead vocalist Garry Walden said “Like a lot of Mind Funeral’s songs, the bones for Clockwork were written around two years ago when we first got together to start jamming. I found the main riff one day while just sitting in my room messing around on my guitar, and then I brought it to a writing session with the guys,” Walden continued. “After that, the rest of the riffs kind of fell into place. The lyrics/vocals came much, much later. Initially our plan was to find a stand alone clean vocalist. We couldn’t find the right fit and so eventually we decided it was just kind of up to us to make it work,” he said.
We talked with Garry before about Mind Funeral’s lyrics, when Cyberwitch was released, and he told us of an imaginative concept. With Clockwork, the concept is further exposed. “The lyrical content comes from our concept revolving around the two main characters in the universe we are trying to create,” he said.
“[There’s] the all powerful Cyberwitch, an ancient evil entity waiting for her chance to be manifested via the advancement of technology and AI, along with what we call the Portal Face, who is essentially a wizard from ancient times who was defeated by the Cyberwitch and converted into a phantom-like henchman forced to bend to her will and capture the minds of humanity via hypnosis through our screens and devices in order to steal natural human intelligence and feed her own power,” Walden continues. “The song is from the point of view of someone who has been captured by the Portal Face and “plugged in” to the Cyberwitch.”
Add “Clockwork” to your metal playlist alongside Black Sabbath and you’ll hear how well it fits. And absolutely make a point to see Mind Funeral Live when you get the chance.
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