It's been well over two months since The 3rd Attempt promised that the second installment of their track-by-track concept video would appear within days of the December release on Dark Essence Records of their second full-length album Egocidal Path.   The two-part video was intended to give a  very personal insight into frontman and lyricist Ødemark's  emotionally charged, and highly personal lyrics, with the first part describing the first four tracks on the album, and the second highlighting the last four tracks.  

 
Unfortunately, a series of problems and mishaps caused the second part to be delayed until now, because, as Ødemark explains, "Everything went fucking wrong.  It really did.   Every single step of the creation of this two-part video was hit by either technical issues, a computer breakdown, lack of time, and of course, the inevitable noob mistake.  It could be said that the whole process was a series of disasters, but perhaps that's why I couldn't be more proud of the final outcome.
 
"This has been my first video creation ever, I had a vision and the motivation, and in order to make it happen I began learning all the technical stuff there is to learn about every aspect of video making (animation, recording, lights, editing, post production, encoding etc.)  Add to this the fact that I had zero budget, so all the costs came from my already empty pocket.  But anyway, if there is no money, it has to be replaced by ingenuity and knowledge, and I wouldn’t let anybody interfere with it or give me a hand. I was set on proving I could do it all myself - and I did!"

The 3rd Attempt was formed by former Carpathian Forest guitarists Tchort (Green Carnation) and BloodPervertor (Opus Forgotten) and, aside from Ødemark on vocals, the band's lineup is completed by Tybalt (Fortid, Den Saakaldte) on drums.  Egocidal Path is the follow-up to the band's 2015 debut album Born In Thorns, and,  with it, according to Tchort, the 3rd Attempt took a "huge leap towards the true sound and identity of the band.  While our debut album Born In Thorns represented the Carpathian Forest era of our song writing, Egocidal Path is a newly written album that is more aggressive, tighter, and in-your-face.  It also showcases the fantastic drumming skills of Tybalt (Fortid, Den Saakaldte) and the vocal range and creativity of Ødemark."

 
Ødemark himself explains what he sought to achieve with the two concept videos: “I wanted to give a visual context to our music, and, at the same time, give as much of an insight into the thinking behind the lyrics without it being a written explanation that nobody bothers to read anyway. This led me to creating what you are now seeing. Yes, I do give a general idea of what each song is about, but I don't set out to explain the lyrics line by line, I want those who are interested to discover things for themselves.
 
"As regards the visual content, I decided to create a two completely different scenarios. With the first video, I wanted to convey the sense of chaos associated with the self-destructive lifestyle aspect of black & roll, and to do this I had to adopt a ‘zero tolerance for political correctness’. So if the mere sight of the naked human body or drugs offends you in any way, if you do not want to  see the whole of what life involves  without getting ‘offended’, well, this one is not for you.  Life is, what life is, with or without your personal approval. With its hints at decadence and personal corrosion, the first video contains a lot more symbolism. The barbed wire and the pain is real though, and people can  decide for themselves what it all means.
 
"For the second Video, I wanted something radically different, I didn’t want people to have to drink twice from the same cup. I needed to create a more realistic scenario as I wanted to depict depression, madness, confusion, mysticism, and make it more personal. I almost went too far with the cutting in the last scene, it all ended up with a pool of blood behind the scenes - too much adrenaline, jeeze!"

Egocidal Path is available in CD and Digital formats, with the vinyl version available soon from all the usual retailers.

The newly re-edited version of Part I of the Egocidal Path concept video can be seen below: