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Empress Premiere “Lion’s Blood” from Premonition out July 24

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Vancouver-based trio Empress will release their debut full-length, Premonition, on July 24. The expansive seven-track/49-minute offering is an amalgam of modern influences, drawing from niche microgenres from progressive psych to black metal and running a cohesive line through post-metallic atmospheres and a lurching aggression in their approach. Setting melody against harsh, echoing shouts, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Peter Sacco, bassist Brenden Gunn — who passed away in 2019 and to whom the album is dedicated — and drummer Chris Doyle make no attempt to hide their stylistic ambition, pulling together influences from the likes of Amenra, Elder, Isis, The Ocean and latter-day Enslaved in an attempt to make something new from the melding.

Premonition sets its course with the eight-minute opener “A Pale Wanderer” and uses the momentum it builds there to unfurl two shorter tracks in “Sepulchre” and “Passage” before the six-minute “Trost” closes out side A. The progression from one piece to the next is essential to the listening experience of the side and the record as a whole, as each cut gracefully complements and expands on the one before it, whether it’s the heavy post-rock air-squibblies and subsequent gallop in the guitar of “A Pale Wanderer” feeding into the immediate angularity that begins “Sepulchre,” or “Passage” building a winding linear movement of riffs edged with psychedelic intent even as they payoff with more aggressive churning — Empress Premonitiona perfect lead-in for the semi-blackened rush at the start of “Trost,” which holds its melodic statement for the finish in a slower-rolling unfurl that gives way to a silence that feels well earned.

Of course, that’s only half the story, and Premonition takes a noticeable turn for the immersive with “Hiraeth,” the first of the three inclusions on its second half. “Hiraeth” (8:03), “Premonition” (7:05) and “Lion’s Blood” (9:39) seem in form to call back to the outset of the album, but that only makes the journey being undertaken seem all the more purposeful. Like the songs preceding, they are progressive in form and thoughtful in composition, but naturally their increased runtime lends a more patient feel, and that proves especially true in the longest of them, which is the finale. Building up from a quiet line of standalone guitar, “Lion’s Blood” reaches two successive crescendos, the first melodic, the second angrier, and in that, the ending of the record answers back to the preceding title-track’s summary of Empress‘ songcraft with a step forward toward individualism, still based around the root influences noted above, but succeeding in its goal of internalizing and adding to them.

It’s a first step, but a brazen one, even unto its title, which would seem to be telling listeners that Premonition is just the beginning of a longer stylistic evolution on the part of Empress. If that’s the case and that’s the challenge the band are setting for themselves, bring it on. While not a minor undertaking at nearly 50 minutes long, Premonition isn’t trying to be humble, it’s trying to be consuming, and it is that. I don’t know how losing Gunn will ultimately affect this mission, but with this first long-player, the band show a marked potential that not only makes a fitting tribute to what might’ve been for the trio as they wore, but still holds promise for the band Empress might become. Whatever their future brings, the obvious consciousness they bring to their songwriting here will only continue to serve them well as they move forward.

And it’s heavy, too.

Happy to host the premiere of “Lion’s Blood” on the player below, all the more so since it serves as the culmination of Premonition and the inevitable step from which Empress will launch whatever may come next.

More background from the PR wire follows.

Please enjoy:

On July 24th, Canada’s EMPRESS will self-release their highly anticipated debut album, Premonition.

Preorder here: http://thisisempress.bandcamp.com

EMPRESS are a three-headed beast from Vancouver, B.C., born after guitarist/vocalist Peter Sacco (Seer) and drummer Chris Doyle attended a show headlined by doom mavens Elder. Inspired by the massive wall of sound and psychedelia they encountered on that fateful night, the pair enlisted bassist Brenden Gunn (Craters) and set out to create their own brand of stoner/sludge metal.

Above all, EMPRESS is not a vehicle for entertainment or flashy showmanship. Rather, it is an emotionally driven, abstract band, and meant to serve as an artistic experience which has a culmination of life experiences, doubts, and growth from what life has brought each member.

EMPRESS boldly and (daresay) beautifully display that across their long-awaited debut album, Premonition. As befitting a first full-length, Premonition took years to write, and was made with excitement and, most especially, a newfound purpose and meaning for driving the songwriting. Once again laying it all on the line, arguably more so than ever, the album’s lyrics are about the mental health of Sacco, his family members, and the experiences he has had with them – the traumas he deals with as payment for being there for someone mentally ill, and accepting loved ones, strangers, and anyone else with mental health issues. But, Sacco stresses, “No one should be pushing people that come forward with their mental health issues and leave them secluded with those issues.”

Comprising seven shape-shifting songs in an all-enveloping 49 minutes, Premonition is the unleashing of emotions from trauma. It is an outlet for each member of the band to deal with whatever it is they need to deal with. Each person writes their parts with whatever intention they would like. That culmination led to the most accomplished album any of them have written, and they are grateful for the support of their loved ones, friends, and strangers who listen to their music and feel that connection EMPRESS want to have come across.

The album is in loving memory of Brenden Gunn, who passed away Oct 31st, 2019. Artwork by Orion Landau and Robin Harris.

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