Daedric is an alternative rock and metal project led by vocalist and artist, Kristyn Hope, alongside producers, Clay Schroeder and Geoff Rockwell, and they’re marching toward their sophomore album with the release of their latest single, ‘Alien Skin’, described as “a pure metalcore adrenaline rush”,
An early favourite and a must-have for the album, it was originally written in 2019, and let Daedric’s live members Trevor (drums) and Dylan (guitar) shine, scratching the band’s metal itch with raw intensity.
“Lyrically, I had written this one after watching the movie Dark City from the ’90s,” Hope explained. The song draws inspiration from the 1998 sci-fi film Dark City, exploring paranoia, self-doubt, and reality distortion. The protagonist questions whether they’ve committed a terrible crime, mirroring the film’s eerie world where unseen forces manipulate reality. The pre-chorus introduces a sinister voice whispering doubt: ‘You’re not going to be okay,” adding to the song’s unsettling atmosphere’.
Musically, it’s a marked shift for Daedric, introducing gritty, belted vocals for the first time. The chorus, instead of exploding with energy, takes a hauntingly restrained approach, amplifying the song’s tension. This track also connects directly to ‘Dreamweaver’, which expands on its themes of paranoia and inescapable nightmares. Blending sci-fi horror with a relentless metalcore edge, it stands as one of the album’s most conceptually rich and intense tracks.
You purchase/stream ‘Alien Skin’ here and check out the video here at RAMzine.
‘Night Mother” was the first track to go into production for their sophomore album, and it set the tone in the most chaotic way possible. Creative differences, technical issues, and behind-the-scenes struggles made the process feel more like a disaster than a starting point. “It was like walking into a party, and instead of someone handing you a drink, they hit you in the mouth with a lamp,” the band recalled. But through the turmoil, they felt they had something specia and the struggle was worth it—the final result was so powerful that ‘Night Mother’ became the album’s first single.
Lyrically, ‘Night Mother’ explores themes of deception, blind trust, and painful disillusionment. It tells the story of someone who placed complete faith in another, only to realise they had been manipulated. “I fully trusted you. I thought everything you wanted for me was good, that I should follow everything you say because you have all this knowledge and power and authority,” Kristyn Hope explained. The chorus delivers one of the album’s most haunting lines: “I’m so naïve I would burn in a fire if you told me to stay.”
The song balances anger toward the deceiver with an underlying sense of shame and self-blame.”It sounds like all the anger is directed at someone else, but honestly, it’s more like, ‘Damn, I was so dumb’,” the band admits.
Originally titled Nails, “Night Mother” also took inspiration from Chinese opera. While some of the high-pitched vocal elements were toned down in the final mix, remnants of that stylistic influence remain. Sonically, the track serves as a bridge between Daedric’s debut album and their evolving sound, blending dark electronic elements with a modern metalcore edge.
At its core, “Night Mother” ties into the album’s overarching theme of free will versus fate. Was the protagonist truly making their own choices, or were they unknowingly controlled? The song captures the weight of that realisation, blending betrayal, loss of autonomy, and self-awareness into one of the album’s most emotionally charged moments.
The single is available here and you can check out the video here at RAMzine.
