American musician, painter, director, and graphic designer Chino Amobi will release his second full-length album, 'Eroica II: Christian Nihilism', on 31st October via Drowned By Locals. Amobi's acclaimed 2017 debut, 'Paradiso', immersed listeners in the sweltering, volatile soundscapes of the global South - clashing rhythms, dense noise, and militant textures that evoked postcolonial heat, displacement, and resistance. With 'Eroica II', Amobi shifts into colder terrain, embracing a more minimal and introspective sonic palette shaped by folky drones, glacial ambient, spectral trap, and the hushed echoes of sacred music traditions. If 'Paradiso' was a burning world in flux, 'Eroica II' is its haunted aftermath - a descent into memory, exile, and transcendence. Less about confrontation, more about reckoning, the album explores silence, voids, and spiritual upheaval with stark, contemplative force. When Eroica briefly leaked in 2024, it was immediately recognized by The FADER as “an epic collage masterpiece” and one of the most essential albums of the year.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Nigerian parents and raised in Virginia, Chino Amobi began making art and music at an early age, informed by frequent trips to Nigeria to visit family. He first experimented with rap alongside his brother (now known as Chichi The Eternal), before emerging in the early 2010s under the alias Diamond Black Hearted Boy - releasing raw, conceptual internet music rooted in futurism and emotional dissonance. His influences range from Nas, Radiohead, and video game music to painters like Hieronymus Bosch. Amobi graduated cum laude with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009, and in 2015 he co-founded influential label and art collective NON Worldwide alongside Angel-Ho and Nkisi. Dedicated to artists of the African diaspora, NON quickly gained international recognition for its politically radical ethos and sound-shattering aesthetic. In 2016, the label released Amobi's 'Airport Music for Black Folk', and later that year, Red Bull Music Academy presented a NON showcase at New York's New Museum.
Amobi's work has extended into fashion and film, including a commissioned score for a Kenzo short film and a 2018 visual accompaniment to 'Paradiso', directed by Rick Farin of Actual Objects. In addition to his music and design practice, Amobi is an accomplished visual artist, with his paintings represented by Meredith Rosen Gallery (New York), Robby Fitzpatrick Gallery (Paris), and Von Ammon Co. (Washington, D.C.) In 2023, he released two new musical works: the blistering, politically charged 'French Extremism' EP and the haunting single 'Labyrinth' - expanding his sonic vocabulary while setting the stage for this next chapter.
A work of spiritual upheaval, haunted minimalism, and transcendent intent, 'Eroica II: Christian Nihilism' marks a pivotal moment in Amobi's evolving, multidisciplinary practice.
A1. The Triumph Of The Cross
A2. Alpha And Omega
A3. Space City
A4. Hand of God
A5. The Eroica Mystery School
A6. I Love Beauty, I Am A Nihilist, But I Love Beauty
A7. I Wouldn't Be Alive Without You
B1. 777
B2. 222
B3. Wicked City
B4. Aristides
B5. This Is The Best Of Seth Price
B6. Gallerina
B7. LEGEND
