CHANGELING Releases Explosive Title Track from Debut Album

Posted on April 1, 2025

More information about Changeling


Fretless guitar visionary Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger, known for his work in Obscura’s Akróasis era, his live work with Defeated Sanity, Belphegor and many others – is now spearheading his very own project: CHANGELING.

Together with core-band members Morean (Alkaloid, Dark Fortress), Arran McSporran (Virvum, Vipassi) & Mike Heller (ex-Fear Factory, Malignancy), CHANGELING are at the forefront of a new era of progressive death metal. Following the release of the debut album’s first two singles Abyss & Falling in Circles, today Season of Mist is releasing the almost 7” title track.

The newly released piece serves as the turning point in the album’s psychedelic concept narrative, chronicling the protagonist’s journey to the outer realms of the psychedelic experience. Inspired by Lovecraftian horror, existential philosophy, and the bizarre hallucinations of a consciousness torn apart, the song’s progressive structure mirrors the chaotic beauty of its lyrical themes, pulling the listener into an unsettling yet mesmerizing new dimension, though the use of microtonal synthesizers, ritualistic vocals, oriental percussion and a full choir.

“Void and vengeance shall beget
A child from below
A changeling of clandestine soul
Comes usurping the holiest of hearts
And no one shall know”

Morean sings, as the intricate but catchy fusion of progressive death metal, avant-garde jazz, and world music influences creates a surreal and immersive listening experience. The dissonant harmonies distort reality, producing an eerie and unsettling atmosphere.

Geldschläger explains:

“This song came from a few musical themes that I had written on the oud.

From those few humble notes, it turned into quite the monster – a monster where I think everybody in the core-band shines equally. At that point in the album’s story, we’re beginning to take the frame-work of tech/prog death metal into uncharted territory, so it seemed appropriate to give this song a unique, winding structure where a shorter pumping mid-tempo banger is book-ended by intensely psychedelic blast-beat driven parts that are building towards a quasi-black metal frenzy at the end. It also has some of my favorite Morean-lyrics of all time. Not only does he paint a vivid picture of a strange, unfamiliar dimension through his signature wordplay – he also quite literally takes us there in the song’s mid-section breakdown, were we envisioned a strange jungle-ritual evoking some dark cosmic entity, somewhere between Lovecraft and Peter Jackson’s “King Kong”.

And, as usual, the man took it to another level by adding a multitude of eery, slithering voices, which are making the song feel almost like it’s breathing. Oh, and this piece also has some of my favorite RIFFS (in capital letters) that I’ve ever written, as well as some quite extreme guitar shenanigans that I called “layers of cosmic horror” during production. Get out your best headphones for this one!”

Watch the visualizer for the title track Changeling now: https://youtu.be/LUeWqVgwWLk.

Changeling is out April 25th via Season of Mist.

➤ Pre-order & Pre-save here: https://orcd.co/changelingchangeling

To celebrate the release of CHANGELING’s debut album, a Bandcamp Listening Party will take place on April 10th at 7PM CET. Fans are invited to join the band and fellow listeners for a communal first spin of the full album, with the opportunity to share reactions live and connect directly with Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger.

Tune in here: https://changelingofficial.bandcamp.com

In tandem with the album release, Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger is unveiling an ambitious series of Changeling transcription books—available now for pre-order. There will be three editions: Guitar Transcriptions, meticulously transcribed by Tom himself; Bass Transcriptions, crafted by Arran McSporran; and the expansive Complete Transcriptions, an all-encompassing collection featuring every single note performed on the album. This includes guitar, bass, drums (transcribed by Fenix Gayed), all orchestral arrangements, vocals, lyrics, and detailed liner notes written by Tom, offering rare insights into the compositional process.

The Guitar (approx. 500 pages) and Bass (approx. 75 pages) books will launch alongside the album on April 25th, while the Complete Transcriptions—a massive 800–1000 page volume—will follow on May 23rd, coinciding with the release of the Atmos Mix of the album. All editions will be available in physical format as well as digital (PDF and Guitar Pro), and every physical copy of the Complete Transcriptions will be personally signed. Each print version also includes a free download of its corresponding digital edition.

Pre-orders are available now: https://changelingmerch.bigcartel.com/

  1. Introject
  2. Instant Results
  3. Falling in Circles
  4. World? What World?
  5. Metanoia Interlude
  6. Changeling
  7. Abyss
  8. Cathexis Interlude
  9. Abdication
  10. Anathema
View Changeling

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