Red Mesa Premiere “Desert Moon”; The Path to the Deathless out June 12
New Mexico’s Red Mesa will issue their third long-player, The Path to the Deathless, on June 12 through guitarist/vocalist Brad Frye‘s own Desert Records label. The seven-tracker runs 40 minutes and makes a curious impression on first go, subsequently opening up to the listener in terms of its ambition. That is, as much as Red Mesa pledge allegiance to the idea and ideals of desert rock in their name and that of Frye‘s imprint, they’re not through the two-and-a-half-minute opening intro “Ghost Bell” — the actual bell of which, yes, is answered toward the end of closer “Swallowed by the Sea” — before they’ve introduced elements like harsher shouting vocals behind Frye‘s croon and a flourish of violin that comes up again later.
Certainly the title-track and subsequent “Desert Moon” have their riffy roots right on their sleeve for all to see — the band even notes below that the latter is a direct play on Kyuss — but at the same time, “The Path to the Deathless” echoes out its midsection like drifting Monster Magnet, and Frye, bassist/vocalist Alex Cantwell and drummer/backing vocalist Roman Barham bridge a large flyover gap in bringing aboard Earthride frontman Dave Sherman (also Spirit Caravan, Galactic Cross, Weed is Weed, etc.), who reigns as one of the principal figures in Maryland doom, to sing and provide lyrics on “Desert Moon.”
So clearly we’re not just taking about a desert rock record here.
Pulling the rug out from under expectation isn’t new for Red Mesa. Their 2018 sophomore outing, The Devil and the Desert (review here) manifested half in roaring grooves and half in subdued acoustic form — a stylistic theme The Path to the Deathless centerpiece “Death I Am” continues and pushes further toward country via pedal steel guitar and twanging lead vocals — so they’re obviously comfortable reaching beyond sandier landscapes. And on repeat listens, The Path to the Deathless not only bring those melodic, quieter and heavier rocking sides together in a more cohesive fashion than its predecessor, it continues the outward push.
The violin — contributed by Kristen Rad, who wins as far as surnames go — throws open the context of The Path to the Deathless right at the outset, giving a tie to post-metal à la SubRosa that, like the bell on “Ghost Bell,” also finds an answer and realization as part of the album-encompassing-summary that is the finishing track “Swallowed by the Sea” (there’s more pedal steel there too). At the same time, Red Mesa aren’t shy about their appreciation for the finer things as regards rock. Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, etc.) shreds “Disharmonious Unlife” to bits in addition to contributing vocals to the piece — another East/West tie-in for side B — and Red Mesa strip back to the bare trio for the all-out penultimate thruster “Revelation,” as if to cleanse the palette ahead of the undertaking that is the nine-minute finale to follow.
Bottom line? There’s a lot going on with The Path to the Deathless, and that’s before you even get to the overarching spiritual theme of the work, exploring life and death as the three-piece are, or the fact that this is their first offering with Cantwell in the lineup and the dynamic shift that brings in terms of he, Frye and Barham all working together on vocals and providing further variety there. Can one song on the album hope to capture all of that? Well, the “Swallowed by the Sea” comes close, but even that doesn’t encapsulate the bicoastal aspects of the Sherman and Wino appearances, so when it comes to giving a sampling of the whole, there isn’t really a single track that does the job. So we might as well groove.
Enter “Desert Moon,” which you’ll find premiering on the player below courtesy of Red Mesa‘s Bandcamp. As noted, Frye, Barham and Sherman all check in with some perspective about the track, and you’ll find that down there in blue.
Hope you dig it:
Brad Frye on “Desert Moon”:
“‘Desert Moon’ is Desert Rock meets Doom. The main riff is like a backwards Kyuss riff. The chorus is an ode to Maryland Doom. The bridge is a psychedelic journey. Red Mesa wrote the music, Dave Sherman wrote the lyrics and sung all the vocals. This was pure collaboration magic. Much love to Dave for being on this. He absolutely killed the vocals and nailed the desert vibes.”
Roman Barham on “Desert Moon”:
“We wanted to have some great special guests on our new album. Dave Sherman came up right away since he was a good friend, and both a badass frontman and musician. To have Sherman a part of ‘Desert Moon’ was both an honor and was very humbling. He crushes on this song and makes it come alive. I fucking love his lyrics. East meets West.”
Dave Sherman on “Desert Moon”:
“Recording and performing for the Red Mesa project was so badass because it mixed East Coast and Southwest styles together. This turned out to be a monster song, in my opinion. Having John ‘Johnny Wretched’ Koutsioukis on board tracking it for us made it pure Maryland doom for the brotherhood of music.”
“THE PATH TO THE DEATHLESS” the third studio album by the Albuquerque, NM band will be released by DESERT RECORDS on June 12th.
This album is a concept record about death and beyond. Death and dying are harsh realities of the physical world, but the soul and spirit lives on through the “deathless”.
The album was recorded, engineered, and produced by Matthew Tobias at Empty House Studio (who has recorded albums by (OM, AL CISNEROS, SUPERGIANT) in January and February of 2020. The album was mastered by John McBain (original MONSTER MAGNET guitarist).
1. Ghost Bell
2. The Path To The Deathless
3. Desert Moon (Feat. Dave Sherman)
4. Death I Am
5. Disharmonious Unlife (Feat. Wino)
6. Revelation
7. Swallowed By The Sea
Red Mesa is:
Brad Frye: guitar, vocals
Roman Barham: drums, backup vocals
Alex Cantwell: bass, vocals
Plus:
Wino: Vocals and Lead Guitars on “Disharmonious Unlife”
Dave Sherman: All Vocals on “Desert Moon”
Kristen Rad: Violin on “Ghost Bell” and “Swallowed by the Sea”
Alex McMahon: Pedal Steel on “Death I Am and “Swallowed by the Sea”
Steve Schmidlapp: Acoustic Guitar on “Death I Am”
Desert Records BigCartel store
Tags: Albuquerque, Desert Records, New Mexico, Red Mesa, Red Mesa The Path to the Deathless, The Path to the Deathless
