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Mythosphere Set Nov. 18 Release Date for Pathological

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Couple different angles from which to approach Mythosphere, whether you take them as three-fourths of the current lineup of Cruz Del Sur Music labelmates Pale Divine or half of the band that was Beelzefuzz coming together with guitarist Victor Arduini of Arduini/Balich and Entierro, among others. Any way you go, the trad metal clarity of purpose in the songwriting and guitar and folkish mystique in Dana Ortt‘s vocals makes for a fascinating and immediately individualized blend. The band previously premiered their video for “King’s Call to Arms” here when they announced they’d signed with Cruz Del Sur, and preorders have now launched for their debut full-length, Pathological, ahead of a Nov. 18 release date.

Cool record. Works from familiar pieces but thankfully avoids both “true metal” posturing and sounding like everything else. I assume another song or two will be unveiled before the album itself, but if you missed that “King’s Call to Arms” video, it’s under the PR wire info below, along with a new teaser that’s handy-dandy shareable on the old-style social medias.

Check it out:

Mythosphere Pathological

Mythosphere – “Pathological” to be released on Nov 18

Past and present members of Beezlefuzz, Fates Warning and Pale Divine team up in new band that marries pure metal with rich, progressive rock flourishes!

On their Pathological debut album, Mythosphere e re-ignites the flame of classic, emotional metal with eight songs of depth, introspection and harmony.

PRE-ORDER CD: https://tinyurl.com/2xwr74c5
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL (LMT 100): https://tinyurl.com/5aa3zb7c
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION MARBLED VIOLET VINYL (LMT 200): https://tinyurl.com/b79n5h9d
PRE-ORDER REGULAR BLACK VINYL: https://tinyurl.com/bdcunb9u
BANDCAMP: https://mythosphere.bandcamp.com/

Pathological track listing:
1. Ashen Throne
2. King’s Call to Arms
3. For No Other Eye
4. Pathological
5. Walk in Darkness
6. Star Crossed
7. No Halo
8. Through the Night

MYTHOSPHERE’s origins began in 2020 when Ortt and McCloskey started working on material intended to be the continuation of BEELZEFUZZ. Their songs came to fruition in 2021 once the pandemic subsided, prompting Ortt to reach out to Arduini to lend his identifiable brand of lead guitar playing. McGinnis was the natural choice for bass, thus completing MYTHOSPHERE, an outfit steeped in traditional metal and doom history that promises to live up to its lofty billing.

Recorded & Mixed by Noel Mueller at: Tiny Sound Studios
Mastered by Arthur Risk
Produced by Noel Mueller & Mythosphere

Logo by Shane Rice
Front & Back Cover Design by Bill Kole
Photos by Shane Gardner
Layout by Tamara Abarzua-Valencia

Mythosphere lineup:
Dana Ortt: Vocals/guitar
Victor Arduini – Guitar
Ron McGinnis – Bass
Darin McCloskey – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/Mythosphere-103752001922863
https://mythosphere.bandcamp.com/

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Mythosphere, Pathological teaser

Mythosphere, “King’s Call to Arms” official video

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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Corey Webb from Apostle of Solitude

Posted in Questionnaire on September 19th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Corey Webb from Apostle of Solitude

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Corey Webb from Apostle of Solitude

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

For 19 years now, I have played the drums for Apostle of Solitude. It’s a passion, a labor of love, and a source of balance to other aspects of my life. Thinking back, it seems a bit surreal sometimes how far we’ve taken this idea since the beginning, and the experiences we’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy as a band. AoS is obviously just an underground doom metal band in a sea of other bands doing this on a much larger scale, but I remember when our goal was simply to record a demo and maybe play a show for a few friends, so I truly am grateful for the friends I’ve made along the way and anything we’ve been able to do beyond that. When I started doing this I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to do some of the things I’ve since done. I am forever grateful for the places this journey has taken me.

My own path that led me to play in this band started a bit later in my life than others. I pursued a degree after high school, met my wife, got a “career” sort of job, and got married and shortly after we had our first son. Like others at that age, I was still just sort of finding out who I was as a person. I suppose I had a bit of an identity crisis, where I loved my “at home” life, but more wholistically speaking I basically decided that I couldn’t just work a 9-5 corporate America job every day, come home, mow the lawn, eat dinner, go to bed, rinse and repeat. I quickly became disillusioned with all that and decided there had to be more to it.

There had to be more to me. I wanted something more; some sort of outlet for individual and artistic expression, self-identify, etc. Music had always been an important component in my life, and something that I deeply enjoyed. Tape trading, making mix tapes, buying albums, drawing band logos on my school folders; all that. I played drums / percussion in middle school concert band, and then later marching band in high school, and my dad had an old ‘60s Ludwig kit around the house that I’d play occasionally back then (he was in a wedding band when he was younger), and although I loved playing I never really took it very seriously.

So fast forward to my quarter-life identify crisis of 2003 or so. I’d always been a bit of an introvert and a lone wolf, so I started going to shows by myself. I took photos, started collecting flyers and handbills, and wrote a few reviews. Some I submitted to a few early online sites and local print music publications, but most I just kept for myself. I was just doing it for myself anyway; just sort of exploring. I started to make some friends in the local metal and punk scene here in Indianapolis, and then started helping with flyer distribution for certain bands that I liked. I wanted to be a part of this little scene that’s always been there, but I’d just discovered. Sure I went to bigger sort of actual “concerts” with friends when I was in high school, but otherwise was pretty much wholly unaware of anything closer to the ground than that.

At the time I certainly didn’t realize there was a thriving local music scene with some great bands right under my nose, but I was starting to make the connection. A few months later I bought a cheap Fender guitar and started to learn some chords and whatnot. I had a little 4-track Tascam recorder and started experimenting with recording (that didn’t last long). Sort of toyed with the idea in my head of maybe one day playing in a band, but never really seriously considered it until my friend Steve (Steve Janiak, who also, as fate would have it, happens to play in AoS now) suggested to my buddy Carl Arana and I that we should start a band. This was at a show at The Melody Inn, a small but famous Indianapolis rock club, at a show for Steve’s band Devil To Pay, who Carl and I were both big fans of. Carl and I both sort of laughed it off at the time, but I believe it was like the very next day when we were like “dude, yeah let’s give it a shot”.

Carl had recently moved to Indiana from California and was one of the first new friends I met going to local shows. We were both walking down an alley looking for the entrance to a show featuring Devil To Pay (from Indianapolis), Slow Horse (from New York), and The Rubes (from Ohio). Both Carl and I sort of recognized each other as having “the look” of someone looking for the show, so we introduced ourselves as we were looking for the club. Absolutely killer show, by the way, and “the club” ended up being a private studio (“Ventilator Studios”) with a sort of DIY “donation to drink from the keg” sort of deal. After that Carl and I became good friends and decided to start jamming together and see where it might take us.

I ditched the guitar (I think it currently still has the same set of strings on it as when I bought it, ha) and bought a cheap entry level Ludwig drum kit. We wrote a few songs together and made some rehearsal recordings under the moniker “Tri Power”. We also got together with Steve and recorded some of those same ideas with the 3 of us under the moniker “Arlorey Eve”. We were so proud of that little CD-R, and gave about 20 copies or so out to friends. That felt so good at the time. It was like “hey man, we can do this!”. Carl had a great ear for music (still does), and came up with some pretty killer guitar riffs. Then the bottom sort of fell out for me a few months later when Carl moved back out to California. I decided I still wanted to do something with this, but I was honestly a bit intimidated about playing with someone else.

Being new to all this, the notion of linking up with more seasoned musicians was definitely intimidating. I met up with Chuck Brown via a local “musicians wanted” message board, and we talked online a bit, and then decided to get together to jam. At the time, Chuck played drums in The Gates of Slumber, so Apostle of Solitude was more of a side project to him in that regard. He had some songs from a prior band that he had called The Keep, which sort of petered out and then he decided to regroup and call it Apostle of Solitude.

The first time we got together, it was Chuck, Brent McClellan on bass, and me. I’m not sure if those guys considered it an audition or not, but from my perspective we were just getting together to see how things would click. I think we played Saint Vitus’ “Born Too Late”, and three or four songs from a demo cd that Chuck sent to me. Maybe one or two of the songs that eventually ended up on the first AoS demo we put out? I don’t recall exactly. The short-term goal was just to record some songs and play a few shows, which was perfect for me and all I really wanted at the time. Nearly 20 years on, Apostle of Solitude continues to play doom metal from the heart and with absolute sincerity. Our music seems to connect with people on a very personal level, which is something we are pretty proud of.

Describe your first musical memory.

Probably my dad’s blue sparkle Ludwig kit set up in our living room. I grew up on ’80s heavy metal, but before that it was ’60s and ’70s “classic rock” from my dad’s record collection. Of course as a teenager it took some time before I realized that some of the music my dad listened to was actually good music. Like most kids, at the time I was thinking “that’s what my parents liked, so it couldn’t be cool, right? No way”. I gravitated at an early age towards the heavier, grittier, and darker sounds with BIG drums and loud guitars. I distinctly remember the day I first heard Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks.”

I was in 4th or 5th grade, and my dad put the record on the hi-fi stereo in our living room. Referencing the posters from Hit Parader, Creem, etc. (then later on, Metal Maniacs, etc.) on my bedroom walls featuring spandex-clad androgynous rockers, he said something to the effect of “son, let me show you what REAL music sounds like”, ha. I reluctantly agreed and sat down in the chair as he proceeded to drop the needle onto the record. As corny as it may sound, that moment changed my life. Though I probably didn’t really openly admit it to him or myself at the time, that was the first time I realized some of the music my dad listened to was actually cool. But also, and more importantly, John Henry Bonham, right? I don’t think you can really call yourself a rocker if you hear the beginning of that song and don’t want to air drum. I knew then that someday I wanted to do something that captured that same sort of feeling, and that thought has never really left me.

Another early memory: Somewhere in Time was the first Maiden record I bought on the day it was released, and I can still remember that excitement. It seems to me it was a bit more exciting back then to buy a record on its release date. The thrill of going to the record store to pick the album up and then going home and listening to it as you poured through the liner notes and album art were all very tangible things.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

The first time Apostle of Solitude went to Europe was a real trip. By that time we’d already done multiple US tours primarily consisting of the Midwest, the east coast states, and the southern states; but this was our first time touring internationally, and it was so exciting. Everything was like a new frontier. We booked eight consecutive dates through six different countries culminating in a performance at the legendary Hammer of Doom festival in Wurzburg, Germany. The first stop on that tour and our fist time playing for an audience outside the US was at the Doom Over Vienna festival at the Viper Room in Vienna, Austria. Being totally immersed in another country and another culture like that is cool, regardless. Everyone was so friendly and appreciative, and in a way we really felt like we were doing something big; I know I did. We had a big touring van and a driver, and a guarantee for most nights with accommodations. Stuff we hadn’t really experienced yet on prior tours in the US.

Chuck had already been over to EU with The Gates of Slumber in 2004, but this was the first time for the rest of us. Our bass player Mike had just joined the band about a year prior to that so we finally felt like we were firing on all cylinders, and to be doing it in front of audiences in France, Belgium, Poland, The Netherlands, and Germany felt great. Playing on the big stage at the Hammer of Doom festival for the first time on that tour is something I’ll never forget. We’d played several US doom fests but Hammer of Doom is something on an altogether different scale. HUGE stage, and a crowd larger than we’d ever been in front of before. The “house kit” included my choice of like six different type of snare drums and multiple options for cymbal sizes and makes. We had our own separate green room with our name on the door, proper catering, fans asking for autographs, the whole nine. We were like “yeah, so let’s definitely do more of this.”.

That memory is probably at the top of my list, but prior to that holding our first demo in my hands, then later releasing our first album on vinyl and cd (on an actual record label!), playing our very first show outside the mini barn we used to practice in, the first proper tour we did (nine or 10 dates through the East Coast… one of them being for a crowd of two people at a tavern in New Jersey), playing our first doom metal festivals in those earlier days (Doom or Be Doomed in Maryland, Templars of Doom in Indiana, Born Too Late in New York, Born To Be Doomed in Maryland, Days of the Doomed in Wisconsin, Stoner Hands of Doom, then a bit later the first Maryland Doom Fest, etc.) are all also on the list.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

My marriage and thus my family are interracial, and this was a bit of a first for both my wife’s and my families. I’ve always subscribed to the notion that “love is blind”, and have never had any issue whatsoever with relationships outside one’s race or sex, etc. I grew up in a fairly diverse environment and it just wasn’t something I really thought about. And I’ll say my parents and immediate family have always been absolutely supportive of me, my wife, and our kids in that regard. When my wife and I first met and first started dating, I never really even considered that we might get static for being together. But we do live in a fairly conservative area of the country so I’ve since learned that being in an interracial relationship means sometimes ignorant people might be judgmental and might think it’s their business to let you know they don’t approve. Shortly before we got married I had an older, sort of old school extended family member that really acted like an ass about it, and went so far as to threaten to “remove my name from the family tree” (like that’s a thing). It was both hurtful and embarrassing to be honest, but I was angry more than anything. That person apologized to me years later on their deathbed at the hospital, but I carried that resentment around with me for a long time before that, and I probably still do a bit. I suppose I thought blood was thicker than water, but that’s not always the case.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Refinement of the things you do well and/or evolution and change from what you previously did. With art, its obviously subjective so sometimes this means the band or artist you like creates something you like even more; other times it means the band you once liked made an album you absolutely cannot stand to listen to. My opinion is that the best art, art that is true to it’s creator, is always deeply personal, so as the person creating art evolves so does their personal expression through their art. There’s nothing at all wrong with taking into consideration what others might like as an ingredient to your recipe, but ideally I think that notion should be a secondary ingredient to your creation.

That said I love AC/DC, so take all that with a grain of salt. What was that Angus Young quote?….”I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same”. So in my opinion artistic progression is certainly a good thing, but it’s not necessarily a requirement.

How do you define success?

Happiness.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I was walking in the woods once with a friend, and we walked up on a deer that had gotten its leg caught in an old piece of farm fence and had either starved to death or gotten killed by something. The deer had obviously been dead for quite some time. It was summertime, and the carcass was swollen up like three times its normal size. The eyes looked to be gone and decay had set in. The hair had started falling off in clumps, and the skin was stretched around the bones like old leather in the hot sun. Absolutely smelled to high heaven (I can’t stress this fact enough, we actually smelled it before we saw it… so nasty). Well, as we got closer we noticed it was moving (!). And making this weird grunting / slurping noise. My friend and I both sort of froze in our tracks and just stood there trying to figure out if we were tripping or what. The grunting continued, and the carcass continued to move in these sort of jerky motions and just as we both were looking at each other like “dude wtf” a wild hog crawls out of the deer carcass, absolutely covered in guts from its rooter to its tooter. It just stood there blinking at us as it’s eyes adjusted to the sunlight outside of the deer carcass, and then it walked away casually. Looking back it’s a bit of a funny story, but it seemed to be the pentacle of “things that are not pleasurable to look at” at the time.

Oh and I also watched all the Faces of Death VHS tapes when I was younger. In retrospect I definitely wish I hadn’t done that, ha.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

The next Apostle of Solitude album. We also have some things we’re working on for a potential collaboration, but I need to keep a lid on those plans for now.

I’ve always been a “one band” sort of guy commitment wise, but someday I’d like to play drums in another project; possibly something much different than Apostle of Solitude. Maybe something along the lines of Grand Funk, Free, or Lynyrd Skynyrd? ;)

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

If an artist makes something that’s true to themselves, but someone else also connects with it on a personal level, that’s magic. If it changes the way the viewer or listener sees things, or the way they approach things, that’s even better. And if the viewer or listener hates it or are offended by it, that’s still good. There’s a connection there that’s specific to this human experience, and it’s a special thing in this world.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Probably our next family vacation, though I’m not sure where or when. Our oldest son graduated high school this summer and he’s working now and taking college courses, so it’s getting more difficult to coordinate that sort of thing. We went to the San Francisco area last October and absolutely loved it out there. We got to see some of the redwood trees in and around Muir Woods, but I’d really like to go further up the coast and inland a bit to see the Sequoia trees. It’s absolutely beautiful out there, and while I love my home state, California is definitely a bit of fresh air in more ways than one compared to the Midwest.

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http://apostleofsolitude.com

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Apostle of Solitude, Until the Darkness Goes (2021)

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Sonja Post “Nylon Nights” Video; Loud Arriver Out Sept. 23

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 16th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

sonja (Photo by Don Vincent Ortega)

Though aesthetically one can’t help but be reminded of The Decline of Western Civilization Pt. II: The Metal Years, with the fire, round bed, leather and so on, the sex-worker-revenge narrative is a fittingly modern counterpoint/update to what was a plenty-misogynist setting. Likewise, Sonja‘s new single, “Nylon Nights” — both referencing and not referencing Black Sabbath in the title — brings together classic metal and current heavy rock in a way that feels very much born of a love of both.

That’s also fitting, since the story of Sonja surrounding their debut album, Loud Arriver — out Sept. 23 on the venerable Cruz Del Sur label — is one of turning being wronged into empowerment, guitarist/vocalist Melissa Moore having started the band following her dismissal from Texas black metallers Absu after coming out as trans, which will handily serve as an example of shitbag, toxic-as-fuck heavy metal culture for years to come and should bring Absu down more than a few notches more than a few notches in terms of respect. If you disagree, that’s between you and your god, but you should be aware your god in this case is probably a piece of shit.

The discrimination aside — not that it should be but I’m trying to make a point — the song rocks, and a long-running Texan black metal band’s loss is everyone’s gain here. Haven’t dug into the record yet, but the video is below (probably nsfw, depending on your job), so dig into that while you peruse the release announcement, and enjoy:

Sonja-Loud-Arriver

Philadelphia Rockers SONJA Releasing Loud Arriver September 23 on Cruz Del Sur Music

Philly rockers SONJA have released the official video for “Nylon Nights,” the first single from forthcoming full-length debut album Loud Arriver. Click to rock at youtu.be/VPk2bB5SQcE.

Guitarist/vocalist Melissa Moore had this to say about the new single:

“‘Danger and Desire keep me alive.’ Possibly the most accurate lyric I’ve ever written. That’s how we ended up in these Nylon Nights. Cis luxuries like ‘safety’ and ‘stability’ have no meaning here. That numbness you feel spreading through you deeper than you thought you went? That’s not going away. That’s you now. Find us. We’ll be playing in the ruins… we are waiting.”

“Nylon Nights” is also available on Bandcamp.

Cruz Del Sur Music will release Loud Arriver September 23 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. A passionate display of heavy rock and metal, Loud Arriver pre-orders are available now at:

CD: https://tinyurl.com/sraz48ad

LP: https://tinyurl.com/bdh8d9c4

Digital: sonjaband.bandcamp.com/album/loud-arriver

Melissa Moore was fired from Texas black metallers Absu in 2017. When she came out as transgender to her bandmates, she figured she would have their support in this most vulnerable moment of her life. Instead, every member of Absu but one shunned her. Moore was dismissed via text message under the claim she had “fired herself” with “her decision.”

Undeterred by the collapse of Absu, Moore and Absu touring drummer Grzesiek Czapla (the lone member of the band who supported her transition) set in motion to activate SONJA, a project they started in 2014. Bassist Ben Brand eventually joined the fold, cementing a three-piece lineup that eschews traditional subgenres for a nuanced, hook-laden, passionate and powerful display of heavy rock/metal on their first full-length and Cruz Del Sur Music debut, Loud Arriver.

Loud Arriver was recorded in 2019 at Creep Recording Studio in Philadelphia with Dan Kishbaugh. Its vocals were tracked in 2020 at the same studio but with acclaimed producer Arthur Rizk (Cavalera Conspiracy, Enforced, Kreator). Loud Arriver marks the first time that Moore has released a full-length album in ten years and also marks her debut as lead vocalist. It is a cathartic event for Moore: A lot of the music she wrote in that period is now lost due to the adverse circumstances surrounding her gender, but SONJA forged ahead. The global pandemic exacerbated the wait to release Loud Arriver but allowed Moore and her bandmates to put additional energy into the album under the concept of “go big or go home.”

Indeed, Loud Arriver is stacked with big, anthemic songs fitting Moore’s impassioned vocal delivery and punctuating guitar work. Through the deft use of minor, melodic-minor and harmonic keys, Moore’s guitar-playing channels an atmosphere of urgency and abandon, reflecting the tumultuous period of her transition where hostility and fear greeted her at every corner. Moore’s lyrics delve further into these topics, addressing the period she lived her life in secret and self-suppression that led to sorrow and dissociation. And her lyrics also touch upon her desire to retaliate upon those who threaten her very existence for being transgender.

Loud Arriver is the result of the intense and demanding vision the members of SONJA had from the day they started. It is the embodiment of true metal and rock ‘n’ roll with nothing held back. It is only fitting, then, that Moore establishes SONJA’s mission statement: “We aren’t interlopers. We’ve been here all along. Now that we have passed step one, we are locked and loaded and have a massive kingdom to overthrow.”

Track Listing:

1. When the Candle Burns Low…
2. Nylon Nights
3. Pink Fog
4. Wanting Me Dead
5. Fuck, Then Die
6. Daughter of the Morning Star
7. Moans from the Chapel
8. Loud Arriver

Line-Up:

Melissa Moore – Guitar/Vocals
Ben Brand – Bass
Grzesiek Czapla – Drums

https://facebook.com/Sonjabooking
https://instagram.com/sonjaphilly
https://sonjaband.bandcamp.com

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https://facebook.com/cruzdelsurmusic
https://cruzdelsurmusic.com
https://cruzdelsurmusic.bandcamp.com

Sonja, “Nylon Nights” official video

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Mythosphere Sign to Cruz Del Sur Music; Premiere “King’s Call to Arms” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 14th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

mythosphere

Next week, Mythosphere will play their first gig Maryland Doom Fest 2022 as part of a packed lineup, and part of what they’ll be celebrating as they do is not only their advent as a new project working secretly in the shadows on putting together a debut full-length — and apparently having completed one — but also their signing to Cruz Del Sur Music to release said album. The band, which unites Pale Divine members Dana Ortt (also ex-Beelzefuzz), Darin McCloskey (also also ex-Beelzefuzz) and Ron “Fezzy” McGinnis (also Admiral Browning, etc.) with lead guitarist Victor Arduini of Fates Warning, Entierro and Arduini/Balich — bridging a geographical divide from the Chesapeake Watershed to New England in the doing — will have a limited number of self-made CDs on hand to share at the fest.

That I want one goes without saying. Gonna keep my finger on the trigger for when they launch a merch page and hopefully have a couple leftovers.

In any case, those familiar with Beelzefuzz‘s run — which began about about 13 years ago and ended seemingly for good at Maryland Doom Fest 2019 (review here) after two LPs — or who were made familiar with Pale Divine‘s most recent outing, 2020’s righteous Consequence of Time (review here), will recognize Ortt‘s stepping back into a frontman-ish role for Mythosphere on “King’s Call to Arms.” The song has a sweeping melody and a rhythmic foundation of swing that’s classic as much as defined by what OrttMcGinnis and McCloskey have done in the past, but I also get the sense in listening that Mythosphere isn’t necessarily a redux of Beelzefuzz with Arduini‘s ripper solos over top so much as a new collaboration between parties familiar with each other that is in the process of setting out to find its own path. Can you hang with it? Oh most definitely.

If you’re heading to Maryland Doom Fest, and you go to the merch table, tell them I sent you, or at least that I said hi. Truth be told, I’ve done a near-embarrassing level of premieres and unveilings and streams around these players over the last decade-plus between their various bands, but I am still excited to find out where Mythosphere and this upcoming first collection of songs might take them. I like what I like — same as everyone — but this first impression is resoundingly positive. And kudos on the band signing to Cruz Del Sur.

Dig:

Mythosphere, “King’s Call to Arms” video premiere

MYTHOSPHERE Feat. PALE DIVINE and Ex-FATES WARNING Members Signs With CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC; Debut Live Appearance Scheduled for MARYLAND DOOM FEST

Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce the signing of MYTHOSPHERE, the band founded by PALE DIVINE guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt and drummer Darin McCloskey. The pair are joined by their PALE DIVINE bandmate Ron McGinnis (bass) and none other than former FATES WARNING guitarist Victor Arduini. Their debut album will be released in 2023.

MYTHOSPHERE’s origins began in 2020 when Ortt and McCloskey started working on material intended to be the continuation of BEELZEFUZZ. Their songs came to fruition in 2021 once the pandemic subsided, prompting Ortt to reach out to Arduini to lend his identifiable brand of lead guitar playing. McGinnis was the natural choice for bass, thus completing MYTHOSPHERE, an outfit steeped in traditional metal and doom history that promises to live up to its lofty billing.

“I see it as Dana’s project,” says Arduini. “He is the primary songwriter and instrumentalist. I get to interpret the songs and come up with my own ideas and sounds. It’s great to see the merging of our two unique playing styles and how it forms something new. I’ve learned that when you do a project on your own, it will only represent your musical approach which is cool for a solo project. But Dana allowed an outside influence and I think we are both very pleased with how this came out. I can’t say enough about the band. Darin and Ron are both very passionate and committed to the music. They are very involved in the writing process and are great musicians. It allows me to focus on what I enjoy doing and not have to put the weight of the entire project on my shoulders.”

“From my perspective, I’m just reacting to what Dana presents,” adds McCloskey. “We will work off the basic ideas he presents and sometimes work out the arrangements together. Other times, Dana will have everything pretty well mapped out. I think there’s a bit of nuance from previous bands, but there’s also a progression into some uncharted territory which makes things really exciting!”

MYTHOSPHERE recorded their as-yet-titled debut album at Tiny Castle Studio in Towson, Maryland, with producer/engineer Noel Mueller. Arduini tracked at his home studio and delivered his parts to the rest of the band. “The music would be best described as an expansion of where BEELZEFUZZ left off,” says McCloskey. “A bit less doom as the songs have deeper progressions with soundscapes and melodic overtones which were brought into the mix by Victor creating a whole new vibe and listening experience.”

For the here and now, MYTHOSPHERE will make its live debut on June 24 at the Maryland Doom Fest. That gig will be followed by an appearance at the New England Stoner and Doom Fest on October 7. Fans will be given a sneak preview of MYTHOSPHERE’s debut album and will also be treated to some surprises from their past.

“We’ll be playing the songs we’ve recently recorded for the album and experimenting with the setlist and finding out what songs will go over the best in a live setting,” closes McCloskey. “We are also looking to include a bit of BEELZEFUZZ into the set that matches the vibe of our new music and Victor’s signature guitar playing. He brings a new element of depth and color to the songs.”

The lineup is:
Dana Ortt – Guitar/Vocals
Victor Arduini – Lead guitar
Darin McCloskey – Drums
Ron “FeZZy” McGinnis -Bass

https://www.facebook.com/Mythosphere-103752001922863
https://mythosphere.bandcamp.com/

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Mythosphere, “King’s Call to Arms”

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Quarterly Review: Crowbar, Eric Wagner, Ode and Elegy, Burn the Sun, Amon Acid, Mucho Mungo, Sum of R, Albatross Overdrive, Guided Meditation Doomjazz, Darsombra

Posted in Reviews on April 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

THE-OBELISK-FALL-2020-QUARTERLY-REVIEW

When we’re keying down after an invariably long day at my house and it’s getting close to The Pecan’s bedtime, we often watch a “bonus-extra” video. Sometimes it’s “Yellow Submarine,” sometimes a Peep and the Big Wide World on YouTube, whatever. Point is, think of today like a bonus-extra for the Quarterly Review after last week. Sometimes we do an extra-bonus-extra too. That will not be happening here.

So, we wrap up today with this bonus-extra batch of 10 records, and yes, as always, I took it easy on myself in backloading the last day of the QR with stuff I knew I’d dig. It’s called self-care, people. I practice it in my own way, usually incorrectly. Nonetheless, here’s 10 more records and thanks for tuning in to the Quarterly Review if you did. Next one is probably early July.

Quarterly Review #51-60:

Crowbar, Zero and Below

crowbar zero and below

Six years after The Serpent Only Lies (review here), New Orleans sludge metal progenitors Crowbar deliver Zero and Below, a dutiful 10-song and 42-minute collection that emphasizes the strength of the current lineup of the band. It should go without saying that more than 30 years on from Crowbar‘s founding, guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein knows exactly what he wants the band to be and how to manifest that in the studio and live, and he does that here. The real question is whether “The Fear that Binds You” or maybe even the later “Bleeding From Every Hole” will make it into the touring set, but those are just two of the candidates on a record that feels like it was expressly written for Crowbar fans with a suitably masterful hand, which of course it was. There’s only one Crowbar. Treasure them while you can. And hell’s bells, go see them on stage if you never have. Buy a shirt.

Crowbar on Facebook

MNRK Heavy website

 

Eric Wagner, In the Lonely Light of Mourning

eric wagner in the lonely light of mourning

Joined by a litany of musicians and friends he at one point or another called bandmates in Blackfinger and Trouble, as well as Victor Griffin of Pentagram, Place of Skulls, etc., for a lead guitar spot, Eric Wagner‘s solo album, In the Lonely Light of Mourning, takes on an all-the-more-sorrowful context with Wagner‘s untimely death last year. And in many ways, the underlying message of In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the same message that Wagner‘s participation in The Skull for the better part of the last decade reinforced: he still had more to offer. He still had that voice, he still knew who he was as a singer and a songwriter. He still loved The Beatles and Black Sabbath and he was still one of the best frontmen after to do the job for a doom band. I don’t know what kind of archive exists of recordings he may have done before his death, but if In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the last release to bear his name, could there be a better note to close on than “Wish You Well” here?

Eric Wagner on Bandcamp

Cruz Del Sur Music website

 

Ode and Elegy, Ode and Elegy

Ode and Elegy ode and elegy

Recorded and seemingly layered together over a period of years between 2016 and 2020, Ode and Elegy‘s self-titled debut features only its 55-minute eponymous/title-track, and that’s more album conceptually and personnel-wise than most albums are anyway. There are guitar, bass, drums and vocals, and those recordings began in 2016 (vocals were done in 2018), but also a string quartet (recorded in Minneapolis, 2017), a brass section and full choir (recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2020), flute (recorded in London, 2020) and harp (recorded in Manchester, UK, 2020). What the Parma, NY-based outfit make of all this is an organic, neoclassical and folk-informed complexity worthy of headphones for its texture and encompassing in both its heaviest and its most sweeping sections. There’s a vision at work across this span, and from the Behemoth-esque grandiosity of the horns about 33 minutes in to the final payoff and bookending subdued melody, the execution is no less impressive than the scope behind it. The years of effort in making it were not wasted. But how on earth do you write a follow-up for a debut like this?

Ode and Elegy on Instagram

Ode and Elegy website

 

Burn the Sun, Le Roi Soleil

Burn the Sun Le Roi Soleil

The thing about the jazzy break in the middle of second cut “A Fist for Crows” (as opposed to a feast?) is that it’s not at all out of place with the lumbering-but-moving heavy noise-rock-toned riffing or the big melodies that surround on Burn the Sun‘s first LP, Le Roi Soleil. After the relatively straightforward opener “Wolves Among Us,” it’s the beginning of the Athenian rockers showcasing their multi-tiered ambitions. “Fool’s Gold” is a short melodic heavy punk rocker, and those elements pop up again throughout, but “Severance” oozes into Deftones-y melody on vocals early and drifts out in psychedelia for much of its second half build, and there’s post-metal to be found in 12-minute closer “Torch the Skies,” but with ambient interludes in “Crawling Flame” and “The Calm Before,” even that’s not accounting for the whole breadth of the nine included pieces. Much to the band’s credit, they pull off their abrupt turns like that in “A Fist for Crows” and the later highlight “Tidal Waves,” while also keeping more charging aggression in their back pocket for the penultimate “Siren’s Call.” Some sorting out to do, but there’s a strong sense of identity in the songwriting.

Burn the Sun on Facebook

Burn the Sun on Bandcamp

 

Amon Acid, Demon Rider

AMON ACID Demon Rider single

A two-songer being offered up as a 7″ sacrifice presumably to the antigods of riffy lysergic doom, while, yes, also heralding the Leeds trio’s forthcoming second LP, Cosmology, Amon Acid‘s Demon Rider may be a bite-size slab, but it’s a slab nonetheless of tripped out doom, drawing on Cathedral in the title-track and bringing some of Orange Goblin’s burl to the still-spacious and freaked “Incredible Melting Man” in a whopping 3:43, as the founding UK-via-Greece duo of Sarantis Charvas (guitar, synth, vocals) and Briony Charvas (bass, synth) — as well as singly-named drummer Smith — follow-up their 2020 debut, Paradigm Shift, with a fuller and more realized shove. The synth does more work in their sound than it first seems, and together with the echoing vocals, it brings “Demon Rider” to a darkly psychedelic place. If that’s where Cosmology is headed as well, I guess it’s time to get on your possessed motorcycle and ride it into interstellar oblivion. You knew this day would come. Come on now. Off you go.

Amon Acid on Facebook

Helter Skelter Productions website

 

Mucho Mungo, Moth Bath

Mucho Mungo Moth Bath

Those ever-reliable climbers of Weird Mountain at Forbidden Place Records snagged Mucho Mungo‘s gem of a 2020 debut EP, and with an extra track added, made a first full-length from Moth Bath that shimmers like a reinvented moment where classic prog and garage rock met. For a record that opens with a song called “Bear Attack,” the Madrid three-piece of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Marco González, bassist/vocalist Adrien Elbaz and drummer/vocalist/keyboardist Santiago Aguilera take a wholly unaggressive approach, digging into psychedelia only so much as it suits their movement-based purpose. That is to say, “Sandworm I” boogies down, and even though “Sandworm II” is comparatively mellow, there’s a space rock shuffle happening beneath those echoing space-out vocals. “Pocket Rocket” devolves in its sub-four-minute stretch but features some choice drumming and Galaga-esque keyboard sounds for atmosphere, while “Blue Nectar” captures a brighter jamminess and “The Moth” signals more cosmic intentions for what’s to come. Sign me up. Familiar sounds that don’t quite sound like anything else.

Mucho Mungo on Facebook

Forbidden Place Records website

 

Sum of R, Lahbryce

sum of r lahbryce

Bringing Swiss duo Sum of R into the realm of Finland’s weirdo-brilliant Waste of SpaceDark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä, Dust Mountain, a handful of other associated acts — by having founder Reto Mäder add vocalist Marko Neuman and drummer Jukka Rämänen from Dark Buddha Rising was not going to make Lahbryce any less devastating. And sure enough, “Sink as I” unfolds with a genuine sense of immersion-toward-drowning that the vague ambience of “Crown of Diseased” and the no-less-airy-for-being-crushing “Borderline” immediately expand. For its eight songs and 54 minutes, what was a tailor-made Roadburn lineup push deeper. Deeper than Sum of R‘s 2017 debut, Orga (review here), and deeper than many consciousnesses will want to go. The instrumental “The Problem” is actually less challenging, but “Hymn for the Formless” makes short work of the tropes of European post-metal while “Shimmering Sand” and the noise-laden “144th” once more spread out in terms of ambience, and closer “Lust” finally swallows us all and we die. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer species, and what a way to go.

Sum of R on Facebook

Consouling Sounds store

 

Albatross Overdrive, Eye See Red

Albatross Overdrive Eye See Red

Albatross Overdrive‘s third full-length, Eye See Red, opens with a hearty invitation to “Get Fucked,” and that is but the first of a slew of catchy, hard-edged, punk-informed heavy rock kissoffs. “Eye See Red” is duly frustrated as well, but as “Coming Down” suitably mellows out and “Been to Space” redirects the energy behind the earlier cuts’ delivery, there’s a feeling of the palette broadening on the part of the California-based five-piece, leading to the centerpiece “Bring Love,” the chorus of which sounds aspirational in light of the leadoff, and “Sagittarius” and “Fuente del Fuego” skirt the line between classic punk and biker rock, Albatross Overdrive continue the gritty and brash style of 2019’s Ascendant (review here) but find new reaches to explore. To wit, the nine-minute closer “Shattered” here reaches farther into melody and instrumental dynamic, bringing the different sides together in a way that’s genuinely new for the band while still having their core of songcraft underneath. They’ve well established themselves as a nothin’-too-fancy heavy rock act, but that doesn’t seem to be an aversion to forward progression either. Best of both worlds, then.

Albatross Overdrive on Facebook

Albatross Overdrive on Bandcamp

 

Guided Meditation Doomjazz, Summer Let Me Down

Guided Meditation Doomjazz Summer Let Me Down

To a certain extent, what you see is what you get with Guided Meditation Doomjazz. The Austin-based outfit led by six-string bassist J. Blaise Gans aka Blaise the Seeker conjure a half-hour session, recorded mostly if not entirely live, with a direct intention toward high-order chill and musical adventuring. Across “Warm Me Up,” “Summer,” “Let Me,” “Down” and “It’s Winter Again,” the band — working as the trio of Gans, Greg Perlman and drummer Mathew Doeckel — are fully switched-on and exploratory, and the pieces carved from their jams are hypnotic and engaging. A check-in from a prolific outfit, but with the backing of The Swamp Records, Summer Let Me Down comes across as something of a moment’s realization, placing the listener in the room — all the more with the photography included in the download — with the band as the music happens. Immersion, trance, digging in, vibing, all that stuff applies, but it’s the hiccups and the letting-them-go that feel even more instructive. If you can remember to breathe, it’s just crazy enough to work. Made to be heard more than once, and serves that well.

Guided Meditation Doomjazz on Instagram

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

 

Darsombra, Fill Up the Glass

darsombra

Everybody’s favorite drone freaks Darsombra — who just might play your house if you pay them, feed them, allow them enough electricity and/or maybe sex them up a little — released the 7:50 single “Fill Up the Glass” on the last Bandcamp Friday as a 24-hours-only offering that was there and gone before I could even grab the cover art to go with it. Rife with spacey, spicy sounds, their interweaving of synth and guitar sounds improvised if it isn’t, rumbling and oozing at the start and drifting joyously into the cosmos over its stretch. No clue whether the song will show up on their next album — as ever, Darsombra are on to the next thing, which is a tour that begins at Grim Reefer Fest in Baltimore and some kind of special offering, presumably a video, for April 20 — but like all their work, “Fill Up the Glass” is evocative and a revelry in creative spirit, and if seeing this gets you on board with checking out any of their more recent work, then I’ll consider it a win regardless of this song’s availability over the longer term. But it is a cool track.

Darsombra Linktree

Darsombra store

 

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Orodruin Welcome New Drummer & Announce Split with Iron Void

Posted in Whathaveyou on April 5th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Orodruin and UK doomers Iron Void teaming up for a split where they both cover Pagan Altar? That is a story I believe. Cool they’ve got originals as well, even if it’s just one per band. Based in Rochester, New York, Orodruin in 2019 released Ruins of Eternity (review here) and have since gone on to play shows with Kevin Latchaw of Argus on drums filling in for a permanent member. Newly announced in that regard is the addition of Randy Rowe to the four-piece alongside guitarist John Gallo, vocalist/bassist Michael Puleo and guitarist Nick Tydelski, and that’s the lineup that will take the stage at Pittsburgh’s Descendants of Crom and the Maryland Doom Fest this June.

They also note below they’ve started to write for their next full-length, but as it was some 16 years between Ruins of Eternity and the prior Epicurean Mass (discussed here), I’m willing to speculate that the wait might be a little longer on that one.

Still, doings:

Orodruin

We are happy to announce our new drummer Randy Rowe (of Haishen) from Rochester, NY. Please give him a warm welcome as we gear up to rehearse for upcoming shows at Descendants of Crom in Pittsburgh, PA on June 3rd & 4th as well as the Maryland Doom Fest June 23rd – 26th in Baltimore, MD. You will also hear him on our next split release with Iron Void (UK) in tribute to Terry Jones & Pagan Altar on Rafchild Records. Thanks to Raphael Päbst for making this happen as well as the blessings of Alan Jones and Annick Giroux.

Orodruin have finished recording our material for the split. Our cover will be “In The Wake of Armadeus” and Iron Void’s is “Highway Cavalier”. This will also feature an original song by both bands, “The Tolling Bell” by Iron Void and “In This Place” from us.

We’d also like to extend thanks to our doom brother Kevin Latchaw (Argus) who graciously leant his drumming services to us at Hammer of Doom in Germany, and our last two gigs in Rochester. NY. We are forever grateful and hope our paths meet again!

With a new year ahead of us we look forward to conjuring new material for our next full length on Cruz Del Sur and booking shows around the local area and beyond!

Thanks to Julia Rabkin for the incredible photo shoot as witnessed by the photo [above].

We’re also working on a new website to link all our pages together and get merchandise available to the masses.

Cheers again for all the support since Ruins of Eternity has been released and we will see you soon!

Orodruin is:
Nick Tydelski : Guitar
Michael Puleo : Bass, Vocals, Drums
John Gallo : Other Guitar
Randy Rowe : Drums

https://www.facebook.com/orodruinofficialband
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Orodruin, Ruins of Eternity (2019)

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Mirror Set April Release for The Day Bastard Leaders Die

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 22nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Looks like a busy Spring season for bassist Tas Danazoglou. The debut album from Friends of Hell is being released through Rise Above in March, and in April he’ll follow that with Mirror‘s The Day Bastard Leaders Die on Cruz Del Sur. The two acts share in common an affinity for heavy and dark sounds of old, but Mirror have shown in the past a willingness to embrace not only more melody, but progressive songwriting aspects to go with their emergent NWOBHM influence. Oh yeah and dude also plays in Satan’s Wrath, so, you know, keeping busy.

There’s a lot of metal bandying about its “trueness” these days. Fine. I’ll be interested to hear how much Mirror work to bend that trueness to their own purposes, since when last they left off, that seemed to be where they were headed. One way or the other, as with much of Cruz Del Sur‘s output these days, it’s a piece of well curated aesthetic that’s bound to at least live up to the PR wire’s description. Some labels earn your trust. Cruz Del Sur has mine.

Here’s to “Demon Candles”:

Mirror The Day Bastard Leaders Die

Multi-National Metal Band MIRROR to Release The Day Bastard Leaders Die in April on Cruz Del Sur Music

Multi-national metallers Mirror return with The Day Bastard Leaders Die, nine stirring, melody-driven numbers that catch the true spirit of NWOBHM and 70s proto-rock! The album will be released on CD, vinyl, and digital formats April 22 via Cruz Del Sur Music.

On The Day Bastard Leaders Die, Mirror wields the mighty sword of unbreakable true metal laced with spirit, speed and heaviness across nine songs of sheer triumph!

The 2015 creation of Greek multi-instrumentalist, former Electric Wizard and current Satan’s Wrath bassist Tas (full name: Tasos Danazoglou), Mirror was formed to faithfully pay homage and reinvigorate the long, worn body of classic heavy metal. Their eponymous 2015 debut featured the likes of in-demand producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Cathedral, Ghost, Paradise Lost) on drums and underground mainstay Matt Olivo (Repulsion) on guitar alongside vocalist Jimmy Mavrommatis and Stamos Koliousis on guitar. That lineup soon gave way to new guitarist Nikolas “Sprits” Moutafis and drummer Daniel Georgiou, who, alongside Tas and Mavrommatis, released the resplendent and firebrand Pyramid of Terror in 2019. With a new record contract in hand with Cruz Del Sur Music, Mirror has emerged even more energized and out for blood with their third studio album, The Day Bastard Leaders Die.

In lockstep with the hallowed sounds of NWOBHM and 1970s proto-rock, Mirror has buckled down on The Day Bastard Leaders Die for songs that are heavier and faster than anything the band has done before. Behind Mavrommatis’s multi-tiered vocal escapades and fervent melodic joyrides, the album’s nine cuts are coated with a sharp, angular degree of songwriting, where twists and turns abound at every corner. Through it all, though, Mirror continually keeps the focus on the unyielding spirit of true metal. Whether it’s the barn-burning opener “Infernal Deceiver,” the fist-banging “Souls of Megiddo,” the raw, raucous, gutter-ready “All Streets Are Evil,” the up-tempo “Sleepy Eyes of Death” and the exploratory, near-progressive title track, Mirror has unleashed an album that brims with purpose and might.

Recorded in Athens, Greece, with producer/engineer Costa Costopoulous, The Day Bastard Leaders Die is every bit the authentic, rousing album that metal die-hards flock to. It’s ultimately a reminder that metal’s future is often rooted in the past. On The Day Bastard Leaders Die, Mirror set out to drive that point home once and for all.

Track Listing:

1. Infernal Deceiver
2. Souls of Megiddo
3. Savage Tales
4. All Streets Are Evil
5. Fire and Hell
6. Stand Fight Victory
7. Sleepy Eyes of Death
8. Demon Candles
9. The Day Bastard Leaders Die

Line-up:
Jimmy Mavrommatis – Vocals
Nikolas “Sprits” Moutafis – Guitar
Dino – Guitar
Tas – Bass
Daniel Georgiou – Drums

http://facebook.com/mirrorheavymetal
http://instagram.com/mirrorheavymetalofficial
http://stareatthemirrorandweep.bandcamp.com/releases
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Mirror, Pyramid of Terror (2019)

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Album Premiere & Review: Apostle of Solitude, Until the Darkness Goes

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

Apostle of Solitude Until the Darkness Goes

[Click play above to stream Apostle of Solitude’s Until the Darkness Goes in full. Album is out this week in Europe and next week in North America through Cruz Del Sur Music.]

Don’t let the crawling tempos fool you, there’s no time to waste on Apostle of Solitude‘s fifth full-length, Until the Darkness Goes. At a here-and-gone 36 minutes, the six-song — five plus the penultimate instrumental “Beautifully Dark” — answers its own mournfulness in its runtime, seeking to create not a willful slog through melodic melancholia so much as a sense of its own fleeting nature. A moment, then over. So be it. The long-running Indianapolis outfit, which now shares two members with the reignited The Gates of Slumber in guitarist/vocalists Chuck Brown and Steve Janiak (the latter also of Devil to Pay) and boasts the rhythm section of bassist Mike Naish (also of Shroud of Vulture) and drummer Corey Webb, continue a fruitful collaboration with producer Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana.

And in so doing, they harness a spaciousness in their sound further broadened through an increased use of reverb and echo on cuts like “The Union” and the later “Deeper Than the Oceans,” which while not as hooky or immediate as the initial salvo of “When the Darkness Comes,” “The Union” and “Apathy in Isolation,” nonetheless carries across a singularly satisfying payoff before its seven minutes are done, leading into the mellow and wistful flow of “Beautifully Dark” before the mindful repetitions of “Relive the Day” serve to draw the listener down into the depressive waters gorgeously depicted on the WÆIK-painted album cover and on-theme with “Deeper Than the Oceans.”

Like that between the band and Bridavsky — who has helmed records for them going back to 2008’s Eyes Like Snow debut, Sincerest Misery (discussed here) — the collaboration with WÆIK is an element held over from 2018’s From Gold to Ash (review here), but as with the striking use of color here where the prior outing’s scheme was murkier, so too has Apostle of Solitude‘s sound been further refined and focused. This is a process that one way or another has been going on since Sincerest Misery and its 2010 follow-up, Last Sunrise (review here), but particularly since Janiak joined ahead of the band signing to Cruz Del Sur for 2014’s Of Woe and Wounds (review here) — admittedly, he had been in the band for a couple years by the time that record came out — the progression of Apostle of Solitude has been one of increasingly focusing on strengths of craft and performance as a means of moving forward between one release and the next.

To wit, where From Gold to Ash led off with three-plus minutes of introductory riffing in “Overlord” ahead of the memorable “Ruination Be Thy Name” — and no doubt part of why it was memorable was because you just heard that riff for three-plus minutes — “When the Darkness Comes” is about as close to immediate as Apostle of Solitude get. One guitar begins, another joins, bass and drums follow soon after and they’re rolling into the first verse by the time they’re 40 seconds into the song, Brown and Janiak quickly working in harmonized form as they will throughout, usually with Brown as the lead vocalist, but Janiak taking the forward part in the early going of “Deeper Than the Oceans,” the respective approach of each having grown into each other over the last decade of working together. Comfortable but not at all stagnant creatively.

apostle of solitude

The combination of their voices has never been as prevalent, as rich, or as engrossing as it is across Until the Darkness Goes, yet the album isn’t at all overproduced. The chorus of “Apathy in Isolation” is a fervently doomed march, with a tonal thickness in the guitar and bass striking dark chords in chugs and strains beneath the semi-soaring title-line, and the call-and-response that emerges in the second half of the track proves the case for their attention to arrangement that much more. Even “Beautifully Dark,” with its quiet guitar contemplation and subdued drumming, feels placed right where it needs to be, not too much, not too little in coming between “Deeper Than the Oceans” and “Relive the Day” as a crucial part of a side B structure that broadens the atmosphere from “When the Darkness Comes,” “The Union” and “Apathy in Isolation” while holding together the mood and the pivotal heaviness wrought by Naish and Webb together.

As the four-piece make their way into the crawling distortion wash of “Relive the Day,” offsetting the low lows with a dual-guitar lead before the next dive under those waters, the summary of Apostle of Solitude‘s accomplishments could hardly be easier to read. They are a band who know what their sound is, know how to make it happen in a studio setting, how to capture an emotive performance from Janiak and Brown without being either melodramatic or affected, and how to couple that with ever-sharper songwriting and a sonic weight that emphasizes the doomed traditionalism from out of which their aesthetic has been shaped.

I consider myself a fan of the band and I approach Until the Darkness Goes from that frame. As such, I won’t decry what they’ve done before, whether on From Gold to Ash or anything previous. What I will say is that Apostle of Solitude‘s prioritization of efficiency in their execution of these tracks, from “When the Darkness Comes” through “Relive the Day,” makes Until the Darkness Goes feel spare even as NaishWebbJaniak and Brown conjure a pervasive, resonant sense of loss that defines the work. That they could come across as so dug in with such minimal actual self-indulgence even with an uptick in dual-vocal parts is a new standard they’ve set for themselves, and while I’d hardly begrudge them their next record running over 40 minutes if it does, the fact that they can make an outing like this one, that says so much, so clearly, dynamically structured, flowing and with so little that might be called an “aside,” is and should be a lesson for others who would attempt to follow their influence, even as it seems to make Apostle of Solitude a singular outfit in doom. One of 2021’s best, no question.

Apostle of Solitude, “When the Darkness Comes” lyric video

Apostle of Solitude on Facebook

Apostle of Solitude on Instagram

Apostle of Solitude on Bandcamp

Apostle of Solitude BigCartel store

Apostle of Solitude website

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Cruz del Sur Music website

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