[Cover photo credit to Gornoss]

Using royalties from their first ever-single, Savage Lands recently protected 60,000 square feet of Costa Rican rainforest from getting chopped down. But on their new single, “Black Rock Heart”, the Metal non-profit team-up “warns us that if we don’t listen up, the world as we know it might not be around much longer.”

The video for “Black Rock Heart” features Kai Uwe Faust from Heilung and Chloé Trujillo. Just listening to “Black Rock Heart” helps support Savage Lands. 100% of the song’s royalties fund the musician-run non-profit’s preservation efforts in Costa Rica. Donations can also be made here.

Savage Land’s first single was a tribute to the endangered howler monkey whereas the new single takes a broader approach to the spirit of the Earth itself.

Savage Lands shot the accompanying video on location in Salton Sea, which is the site of the biggest environmental disaster in California history.  

Guitarist Sylvain Demercastel, who co-founded Savage Lands alongside Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren, says:

That we tried to create an ocean just shows our own ignorance. The Salton Sea is a very symbolic area. It was the perfect place for us to shoot this video. Sadly, there’s hardly a tree in sight.

Demercastel continues:

We wanted this song to reflect our mounting frustration with the way the real estate heat wave is destroying Costa Rica’s ecosystem. It’s got a bit more black ‘n’ roll to it, which plays into the title.

That’s the reason why we started Savage Lands. It’s up to us to do something.

Kai and his fellow Heilung members are continuing to support Savage Lands on their 2024 tour dates. The Nordic collective are donating $1 for every ticket sold to the non-profit’s ongoing forest preservation efforts in Costa Rica.