Here's a lyric for you: "God’s got a picture of the whole world burning, down to the details of his hot white ash." That's the opening line from Emma Ruth Rundle's new single "God's Picture," and it's also the fantasy at the song's center. Rundle is a master of bleak and heavy mood music, and she'll release her new album These Killing Times in a couple of weeks. We've already heard the early tracks "Powerless" and "Enough." "God's Picture" keeps the streak going.
Rundle describes "God's Picture" as the centerpiece of These Killing Times. It starts out as a gothy torch song before building into something majestically crushing. Rundle directed her own video for the song, and she plays a number of different mythic roles in it. In a press release, Rundle says:
"God’s Picture" is a meditation on the state of the world, particularly climate disaster, global conflict and class. Musically, this song feels like a segue from Engine Of Hell, with its gentle piano and guitar, to These Killing Times, with its more lush arrangements and message. This song is also a plea for the demolition of western hegemony. Accompanied by a music video collaboration with many friends and for which I painstakingly constructed the sets for in the winter of 2025/26, "God’s Picture" is the thesis statement at the core of my new album These Killing Times.
Emma Ruth Rundle plays guitar and keyboard on "God's Picture," and it's got Patrick Shiroishi on sax, Troy Zeigler on bass, and Chelsea Wolfe collaborator Jess Gowrie on drums. Check it out below.
These Killing Times is out 9/18 on Errant Child.
