Sigil burns appear upon your arms
And no one is safe when the words mean harm
Do unto others as they’ve done unto you
Binding and blinding as intentions come true
Santa Ana’s The Exile conjure reverb-soaked rebellion on their latest track, Incantation. Born from punk roots tangled in bands like Tozcos and Fuga, this crew now stalks darker alleyways, tapping into the spectral veins of early Siouxsie, 45 Grave, and Super Heroines. Yet beneath the goth-inflected gloom lurks a restless heartbeat: rhythms slow and serpentine, draped in velvet dread.
Incantation unfurls like smoke from ceremonial flame, chants curling upward in cryptic, cautionary whispers. Sigils scorch skin, vengeance vibrates through verses as curses coil tighter, binding victim and conjurer alike. Malevolence struts brazenly under sunlight, unheeding the siren’s fading plea. Defeated youth drift, entranced and entrapped, back into the beckoning arms of a familiar hell.
The Exile (Lex, Lemon, Rory and Chris) masterfully meld goth’s graveyard glamour and punk’s prickly edges, delivering dread with defiant grace. This is ritualistic revelry, delivered darkly, deliciously…music for moonless nights, for souls seduced by gloom.
“The lyrical inspiration for Incantation came after watching the Killing Joke documentary The Death & Resurrection Show,” Lex recalls. “I had been exposed to the world of the occult and magick, but seeing how artists I admired blended it into their music inspired me. The song is also influenced by the atrocities happening in Palestine, a truly evil crime against humanity.”
Drawing from the scorched aesthetic of Target Video and the raw power of GBH’s Give Me Fire, The Exile’s video for Incantation thrums with DIY ferocity. Shot by Bano and edited by Toilet Scum, it was filmed on the rooftop of Gunthers Co. in downtown Santa Ana, with the towering clock deliberately framed as a nod to Orange County’s looming cultural presence. The grain, the grime, the geography—every element feeds the ritual.
Watch the video for “Incantation” below:
Listen to Incantation below and order the single here.
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