I hadn’t listened (at least consciously; there’s a lot that comes and goes through my ears in a given day) to Bones of Minerva‘s 2022 Embers album, but if there was one band who didn’t actually play the thing about whom I heard a lot at SonicBlast Fest in Portugal last month, it was this Madrid-based four-piece, whose stylistic gamut runs between ambient drone, crushing sludge and teeth-gnashing ‘core of this or that variety. Melodic when they’re not furious, quiet when they’re not loud, the four-piece would seem to have earned that word-of-mouth, and it’s sounding more and more like I’m about to earn paying eight euro for the download. So it goes.

Lesson learned on my part, I guess. Iberian heavy doesn’t screw around. They’ll play France and Germany for the first time next month, and while I know there’s a good deal of tribalism in the Euro heavy underground — nobody talks about it, but each region has its regionalism — the fact that they’ll be out with Svalbard from the UK should help bring soon-to-be-crunched skulls to the room. For the rest of us, if you can get down with volatility, the Embers stream is down there at the bottom of the post, and now you too get to tell someone you heard about this band from word of mouth. Isn’t it amazing how that works.

From the PR wire:

Bones of Minerva Join Svalbard for German and French Tour Dates

Following their UK tour, including a performance at Bristol’s esteemed ArcTanGent festival, Madrid-based post-rock/metal band Bones of Minerva will be joining the British post-metal outfit Svalbard on their upcoming October tour. The Spanish quartet will be supporting Svalbard during their shows in Germany and France, making their debut appearances in both countries.

States Bones of Minerva:
“We just can’t wait to play these shows with Svalbard. They are an incredible band, and we are so grateful and excited to be joining them on the road.”

Bones of Minerva in Germany & France in October:
10/15: Cologne, DE @Helios 37
10/16: Berlin, DE @Urban Spree
10/17: Dresden, DE @Chemiefabrik
10/18: Neunkirchen, DE @Strummsche Reithalle
10/19: Paris, FR @Backstage By The Mill

Since the release of their sophomore album, EMBERS, last year, Bones of Minerva has been on a busy ride. In June 2023, they performed at Azkena Rock in the Basque Country, sharing the stage with legendary acts like Melvins and Iggy Pop. And recently, after completing their August UK tour successfully, they played an intense gig with fellow Spanish grungy noise rockers Rosy Finch. Additionally, they are lined up for a series of other shows across Europe.

Stream/Download the latest album, EMBERS, on your preferred digital platforms HERE: https://linktr.ee/bonesofminerva
Purchase CD/Vinyl/merch HERE (Store): https://bonesofminerva.com/merch
or HERE (Bandcamp): https://bonesofminerva.bandcamp.com/album/embers

Long-time friends Chloé (bass), Eustaquia (vocals), and Ruth (guitar) started Bones of Minerva in 2013, with Nerea joining on drums in early 2018. Like a chimera, their music is a menagerie of sound: the vocalist Eustaquia shifts from hypnotic melodies to savage growls, pairing introspective lyrics with dreamy landscapes whilst Nerea is a powerhouse of crashing progressive rhythms that pairs with the band’s heavy riffs and swirling basslines to brutal effect.

Their debut, Blue Mountains (2017), was initially self-released, with a reissue through Nooirax and La Rubia Producciones the following year. Two years of nonstop activities saw them play festivals like Download Madrid and Resurrection Fest and dates all over Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

In early 2022, the band announced their signing with Spanish label Aloud Music (Toundra, Viva Belgrado) alongside La Rubia Producciones once more to release their second full-length. A new single, “Swamp,” was released soon after as a 7″ to mark the beginning of this new chapter, and on 16 September of the year, their second album, EMBERS, was released in full.

The band opted for a live recording at Metropol Studios (Madrid) with producer Alex Cappa, a process that has seen the band hone their sound and expand into progressive and post-rock territory on tracks like “Merula or Silence.” EMBERS is a journey that takes the listeners through smoke, across forests and swamps, to the very roots of mother earth herself. It is the remnants of fire ready to surge at any moment as a roaring force.

Track Listing:
01. Forest
02. Swamp
03. Cuna
04. Dream
05. Fuego
06. Merula
07. Claws
08. Silence
09. Flood
10. Madre
11. Hands

https://bonesofminerva.com
https://linktr.ee/bonesofminerva
https://www.facebook.com/bonesofminerva
https://www.instagram.com/bonesofminerva

https://linktr.ee/larubiaproducciones
https://www.larubiaproducciones.com

https://aloudmusic.com

Bones of Minerva, Embers (2022)

If, like me, you’re feeling like a little metallic triumph to go along with your Tuesday afternoon, might I point you in the direction of Oakland, California, four-maybe-five-piece Embers. They formed in 2004 and since then have been getting off on a blend of ambient black and death metal that seems to leave just enough room for heaviness that comes from more than just squibbly guitars, screamed vocals and double-bass drumming.

To wit, “Forsaken,” from their latest self-released full-length, Shadows. Bassist/vocalist Kelly Nelson sits far back in the mix in what’s becoming the American black metal tradition, but nothing about Embers comes off as purposely lo-fi or overly posturing. Keys add ambience without symphonic silliness, and as the album moves along, the heft in the guitars of Steven DiCaprio and Timm Kennedy, as heard on the title cut, are a welcome change from the tinny-sounding genre norm.

I know they’re not really a fit with what The Obelisk usually covers, but every now and again I dig some more extreme metal and figured I’d share. The band are reportedly looking for a label and want to get the record out on vinyl, but in the meantime, can be checked out via Thee Facebooks, their own website or Bandcamp page, from which the player below was hoisted so you can stream Shadows if so inclined: