An ache moves forward
He steps back
I step forward
It all turns black
He steps forward
I step back
Some relationships develop their own terrible choreography: one person advances, the other retreats, and a moment of contact sends both back through the same steps. On Annihilate, underground post-industrial producer and vocalist Lana Del Rabies gives that exhausted dance a setting of metallic percussion, dissonant strings, and voices that seem to drift through the walls. The prospect of closeness carries a threat of disappearance, as though reaching for another person might cost you the outline of yourself.
Released through her own Feral Crone Recordings, the single revisits the gothic industrial territory of her 2023 album STREGA BEATA. Among her most accessible recordings to date, Annihilate brings its melody into clearer view within a dense, unsettling arrangement, with echoes of mid-career Nine Inch Nails, early Chelsea Wolfe, Dead Can Dance, and Godflesh. Written and produced by Lana Del Rabies, the track features bass, guitar, and additional instrumentation from Zach Wise, formerly of experimental black metal band Hissing.
Deeply reverberant string tones open the song, their discord setting the room askew before a soft metallic beat begins carrying it forward. Creaking noises punctuate the haze, while thudding distortion stays buried beneath the mix, suggesting a heartbeat accelerating at the approach of something unwelcome. Her singing is soft, breathy, and eerily close; farther away, wails stretch across the recording like cries attempting to reach the living. The whole thing suggests a deserted Victorian factory, its decaying rooms still occupied by machinery and something considerably harder to identify. That dusty, corroded atmosphere recalls the gothic industrial aesthetics of the 1990s, with every small sound acquiring an uncomfortable physical presence.
The lyrics begin with images converging in reverse and a moment suspended in time. From there, the exchange becomes a sequence of opposing movements: his withdrawal prompts her advance, his approach sends her backward. “Push pull fade” reduces the relationship to its recurring mechanism. Hearing her name briefly promises recognition, but the next attempt at contact leaves her grasping in vain. By the time the title enters the refrain, desire reads as a force capable of wearing away the person who feels it.
Directed and edited by Lana Del Rabies/Sam An, the video translates that instability into grainy woodland footage, overlapping figures, and close-ups that dissolve before they can offer much certainty. Pale dresses and fabric catch the light against dense foliage; raised arms, blurred faces, and bodies close to the ground recur through successive layers of exposure. Black-and-white images give way to smeared color, turning the setting into something resembling a damaged reel of folk horror. The footage was shot by Jane Slater, whose video credits include Dildox, Brood Faye, and Sacred Skin, and Vox Porter of Sleek Teeth.
Watch the video for Annihilate below:
Lana Del Rabies began with early experiments sampling female pop musicians into noise tracks, a practice reflected in the project’s name. An has since developed a body of work spanning industrial music, gothic electronics, and experimental heaviness, examining human brutality and the prospect of apocalypse. Her recordings have earned attention from The Quietus, Metal Hammer, and Anthony Fantano, while her live performances have taken her to festivals including Roadburn, Coldwaves, Sled Island, Prepare the Ground, Northwest Terror Fest, and Soulcrusher. She has toured with Author & Punisher, 3TEETH, Pharmakon, JPEGMAFIA, and John Wiese, and opened shows for artists including clipping., Midwife, HEALTH, and Bell Witch.
In 2025, An founded the art-focused label Feral Crone Recordings and released Le Temps Viendra and Omnipotent Fuck. She is currently working on a studio record with former members of Hissing, due in 2027.
Listen to Annihilate below and order the single here.
Lana Del Rabies joins gothic rock vocalist Echos for a West Coast tour this October. See the dates below:
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The post “It All Turns Black” — Lana Del Rabies Explores Desire and Self-Erasure in Ghostly Video for “Annihilate” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.
