Nate Todd is initiating a full-scale auditory assault on the senses with “Tellus.” This Denver-based producer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist has made a love letter and a warning siren rolled into one, with cosmic fury through thrash-inspired grooves and sci-fi narrative genius.
This is the title track from Todd’s forthcoming sci-fi concept album, and it immediately throws you into the deep end of a grim future. The song unfolds on an unrecognisable Earth, a barren alien landscape where the main character is left to recall “how it used to be.” Todd makes you feel this desolation in the pounding rhythm section and the searing instrumentation. The track’s creation story is itself the stuff of rock legend—a moment of cosmic synchronicity where the line “tell us a story” collided with the discovery of the ancient Roman Earth goddess, Tellus, forging a title with devastating double meaning.
Todd wears his influences like a battle-worn jacket, and the primary emblem is King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. He conduits the same frantic, planet-sized energy that defines Gizzard’s thrash records, using the aggressive, driving sound to hammer home the urgent message: “we are fucked unless we take some drastic measures.” The song is a trip through the solar system where the dark side of human nature runs rampant. It’s a sonic allegory for the “ridiculous bullshit” the world is manufacturing, and it lands with the force of a meteorite.
This track is the climactic chapter of a decade-long trilogy. It completes a visionary arc that began with his former band Whiskey Tango’s western-themed Crystal Hotel (2016) and continued with his solo film noir piece, Empty City (2024).
“Tellus” is a formidable beast of a song. It’s from an artist operating at the peak of his powers, using every tool—riff, rhythm, and narrative—to shake us awake. Nate Todd is sounding an alarm from the future, and it’s one you need to hear.