Uncle Woe Set Oct. 23 Release for Phantomescence; Streaming “Become the Ghost”
Heads up on this one. I know plenty of people caught onto Uncle Woe with the first record, late-2019’s Our Unworn Limbs (review here), but if you didn’t, the second one, called Phantomescence, pushes even further out in terms of what that offering accomplished in terms of style, bringing down-in-a-hole grunge melody to a backdrop of lumbering cosmic doom. I’ve only had occasion to go through it once, but the progression is evident even in the structure offsetting longer tracks with shorter ones, and there is a clearer sense of purpose throughout.
I’ll have a review up of Phantomescence hopefully ahead of the release date, but the opening track is streaming now. Hail Canadian heavy, and no, I’m not just saying that because I plan to apply for asylum there.
Again, heads up. Here’s PR wire info:
Mournful And Meandering, Canada’s Uncle Woe Reveal Second Album “Phantomescence”
Canada’s Uncle Woe brings you a contemplative, progressive doom album “Phantomescence” that was completely conceived and recorded in pandemic induced isolation. The opening track/lead single, “Become The Ghost” is a meandering exploration of death and dreams.
“Phantomescence” deviates from the first Uncle Woe album as the band moves forward from a solo studio project. It is an easily digestible, logical next step in the band’s evolution; elements, which made the first LP, “Our Unworn Limbs”, engaging and intriguing are present again on this offering; expanded upon, polished, and moderately better produced. The new album deals with death in a much broader and less personal sense, and also contains a lot of abstract, dream sequence type elements.
Currently, as a two-piece, Rain Fice and Nicholas Wowk worked on their parts separately, shared them online and managed to pull off the second album from the band. Fice details the intricacies of the single:
“Become The Ghost is almost relentless in its forward, mid-tempo, stomping march. The first chorus comes as a very small, simple 3/4 breather, in the midst of the opening/verse riff’s endless churning and revolving 11/4 and 15/4 riff. The vocals throughout are rough, and finally build to a scream in that last, closing verse. After the death of someone very near to me, I remember a feeling of loss so great that it seemed that even though THEY had died, I was the one who became a ghost if that makes sense; a ghost, or shadow, or shell.”
Many chugging, bludgeoning passages are offset by expansive and contemplative, subdued, almost post-rock soundscapes, making Uncle Woe suitable for fans of Yob, Chrome Ghost and Deftones.
The full album “Phantomescence” is due out October 23rd via Packard Black Productions and available for digital, CD and vinyl pre-order HERE: https://unclewoe.bandcamp.com/album/phantomescence
Track Listing:
1. Become The Ghost (6:29)
2. On Laden Shores (13:30)
3. Lucid Degrees of Autoscopic Ruin (6:45)
4. A Map of Dead Stars (13:14)
EP Length: 40:00
Album Credits:
• All songs performed by: Rain Fice/Nicholas Wowk
• All songs written by: Rain Fice *Become the Ghost by Fice/Wowk
• Produced by: Rain Fice/Nicholas Wowk
• Mixed by: Rain Fice
• Mastered by: Rain Fice
• Album Artwork by: Rain Fice
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
EP Recording Band Line Up:
Rain Fice – Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
Nicholas Wowk – Drums/Percussion
Facebook.com/unclewoe
Instagram.com/unclewoedoom
https://unclewoe.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/packardblackproductions
https://packardblack.bandcamp.com/
https://www.packardblack.com/
