Daniel Saillant uses the characters and narratives of Neon Genesis Evangelion to explore personal experiences on ANNIHILUS MUNDI’s second full-length, The Dead Sea Scrolls. Scheduled for November 6, 2026, the 77-minute concept album draws on Hideaki Anno’s 1995 anime series and the 1997 film The End of Evangelion.
The announcement describes an instrumental framework combining metal with orchestra, harpsichord, piano and electronics. Opening track “Second Impact (Overture)” introduces recurring musical motifs after an opening of cicada sounds. Its narrative draws on the series’ Second Impact catastrophe and the death of Yui Ikari.
“Absolute Terror” features vocals by Noah Magnelli and a guitar solo by Chris Jones of ÆTHER REALM. Its concept comes from Evangelion’s Absolute Terror Field, while the supplied description pairs death metal riffing with melodic passages. “A Hedgehog’s Dilemma” addresses protagonist Shinji’s use of social masking as a defense mechanism, placing death metal rhythms against orchestral and vocal melodies.
The two title-track movements form a 13-minute piece. “Reminiscence” explores Saillant’s experiences with social anxiety through the anime’s treatment of repressed trauma, introducing a melody and verse that recur elsewhere on the album. “Incursion,” featuring a guitar solo by Andrew Matarazzo of PERENNIAL QUEST, moves from clean tones into heavier instrumentation. Its narrative draws on the Katsuragi expedition to examine a society’s destructive reliance on literal interpretations of ancient writings.
“Black Moon” examines Evangelion’s religious imagery in a shorter death metal composition, with Olive Gallop of ICE GIANT contributing to its chorus. “King of Thorns” combines dial-up modem sounds, folk melodies and vocals from Saillant and Magnelli. According to the announcement, its progressive and jazz passages accompany lyrics reflecting Saillant’s anxiety about the future in April 2020. Sam Mooradian contributes a guest guitar solo.
The four-part “Terminal Dogma” spans 18 minutes and follows Asuka Langley Soryu’s storyline. Its first movement, “Do you love me?,” introduces woodwinds alongside guitar melodies. The second, “Take care of yourself,” takes Asuka’s perspective during her confrontation with the Mass Production Series Evas, with Sarah Hartman of AVERSED contributing vocals and Alex Haddad contributing a guitar solo.
The third movement, “Love is destructive,” arranges Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations IX. Nimrod.” The announcement connects it to several Evangelion sequences and to anxiety about other people’s perceptions. The fourth, “I need you,” revisits Asuka’s trauma in a departure from the original narrative and returns to the first movement’s main riff in a different key. Hartman also contributes vocals to this final movement.
“Silent Planet” returns to the words of “Reminiscence,” reshaping its refrain with little melody amid noise and contrasting textures. Anthony Harter contributes noise and atmospheres. The closing “Human Instrumentality” is itself divided into three parts: “Mother Machine,” “Superior Species” and “Human Instrumentality.” These examine the use of religious texts against marginalized people, the consequences of religious indoctrination from a billionaire’s perspective, and an imagined world without divisions based on fear or class. Michael Laurendeau Jr. supplies a guest guitar solo.
Saillant produced, engineered, mixed and mastered The Dead Sea Scrolls at Wailing Pines Productions. His credited roles in ANNIHILUS MUNDI include vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards and programming; Magnelli contributes both harsh and clean guest vocals.
Formed in 2018, ANNIHILUS MUNDI combines death metal, shoegaze and progressive rock. Saillant’s debut album, Grief, followed in 2019. The supplied background identifies CYNIC, DEAFHEAVEN and DREAM THEATER among his influences.
