Of the various kinds of heavinesses they emit — sonic, emotional, temperamental, etc. — where Arkansas post-sludgers Rwake are heaviest of all is in atmosphere. There’s something about their new album, Rest, that, in its most biting moments, reaches down your throat to pull the air from your lungs. It’s not just oppressively loud. Even quiet stretches like the opening introduction “Souls of the Sky” enact a kind of hegemony for the threats they contain.

Rest is the fifth and most realized Rwake (pronounced “wake”) album. It follows four years behind the band’s Relapse Records debut, Voices of Omens, and, like that album, was produced by the careful ears of Sanford Parker. That’s important to note because, as Rwake has stepped beyond their past work in so many ways across Rest‘s six tracks, there are still some consistencies of sound that work greatly to their benefit, and Parker‘s production is undeniably a big part of that.

But then, “big” seems to be the word all around when it comes to Rwake. The guitars of Kiffin Rogers and Kris “Gravy” Graves alternate between piercing leads and riffs that seem to be made of block cement, broken through only by Jeff Morgan‘s ultra-adaptable drums, Reid Raley‘s rumble and the dual-vocal assault of Brittany Fugate‘s snarled screams and CT‘s shouts echoing over the abyss like cliffside incantations yelled to gathering clouds.

As the frontman, CT has shown marked growth in his vocals, moving beyond the screams of Voices of Omens and earlier records like 2004’s If You Walk Before You Crawl, You Crawl Before You Die and 2002’s Hell is a Door to the Sun (reissued earlier this year by Relapse) to more controlled and overall cleaner shouting. It’s not exactly melodic, and he’s still able to match Fugate for ferocity on cuts like “An Invisible Thread,” but there’s no question that in the four years between Voices of Omens and Rest, he came into his own as a singer and as a central figure in the band.

The album is 53 minutes long. My interview with CT was 55. We spoke before the band’s short tour at the end of last month about the strange and protracted process by which Rest was recorded and how it ultimately helped in undertaking the aforementioned maturation, the move to longer songs, their current position as regards touring and much more, and even had some time at the end to bring in how he — as the director of the sludge documentary Slow Southern Steel — views Rwake within the expansive creative milieu of the American south.

You’ll find the complete 6,200-word Q&A after the jump. Please enjoy.

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While embroiled in the 53 minutes of Rwake’s new album, Rest, you feel every second of the four and a half years it’s been since Voices of Omens came out in February 2007. That record was Rwake’s Relapse Records debut, and in some ways, the new Rest is a direct sequel. It once again pairs the Little Rock, Arkansas, five-piece with producer/engineer Sanford Parker and finds them imbuing their sludge with atmospheric sprawl, but where Rest surpasses Voices of Omens (not an easy task) is in the level of growth displayed. On the four extended cuts (plus two interludes) of Rwake’s latest, the band show a mastery of their form and style that couldn’t come from anything but a mature outfit. The music is heavy both in tone and introspection, and Rest benefits greatly from the interplay between vocalists CT and Brittany Fugate, the latter who also contributes samples and noise, but the fact that’s most readily apparent is that four years ago, Rwake simply wasn’t here yet, and they’re here now.

In light of CT having helmed the documentary film Slow Southern Steel, it’s hard not to read Rest in terms of its place in the lineage of Southern American sludge, and in that regard, it builds on the directives of the genre – at times it is painfully slow – but shies away neither from exploration nor melody in the guitar work of Kiffin Rogers and Kris “Gravy” Graves. Rounded out by Jeff Morgan’s drums and Nachtmystium contributor Reid Raley‘s bass (John Judkins has also recently toured with the band in the role), Rwake don’t entirely transcend rudimentary sludge’s punk-based aggression – they’re not trying to – but in terms of where these songs go, it’s clear the band are reaching for something more complex. They get it almost instantly, the acoustic guitar and melodic vocals from Fugate in the intro “Souls of the Sky” giving way after 1:27 to the near-12-minute ultra-downer “It was Beautiful but Now it’s Sour.” The opener, like the later “Ti Progetto,” being geared more toward atmosphere and establishing a context for what’s coming, Rest truly gets underway with the second cut, a lumbering pace set by Morgan’s snare and topped with one of the album’s several excellent guitar leads. CT’s first vocals, interestingly, are backwards. It’s a tactic Rwake use toward the end of the song as well, but his gruff shouts are soon turned forward and paired with Fugate’s animalistic black metal snarl. But 3:20 into the total 11:45, Rwake’s expanse is beginning to lay itself out. CT and Fugate synchronize and the effect is engrossing.

Like much of Rest, “It was Beautiful but Now it’s Sour” follows a linear structure, but though there are moments where it feels like their build will just keep going without payoff, Rwake never lose sight of the song they’re writing. I’d argue that the ambient/acoustic break that comes into “It was Beautiful but Now it’s Sour” – one of CT’s most Neurosis-esque moments in terms of delivery – undercuts the apex the prior movement was leading toward, but it doesn’t feel like Rwake are making a misstep in their craft as much as making their listeners sweat out the track’s peak. Instead, melodic guitar lines space out patiently before a crashing avalanche of a riff takes hold and, eventually Morgan introduces a quicker tempo with drum fills while Fugate screams deep in the mix, nonetheless stepping back as CT helms the drama of the final minute. There’s a lot happening right away, and though shorter at nine minutes, “An Invisible Thread” doesn’t let up, beginning faster with electric and acoustic (I think) guitars paired in Mastodonian tradition for a quicker riff as CT and Fugate once again line up as well. Much of Rest’s success is based around the two pairings – Rogers and Graves and CT and Fugate (with the Raley‘s bass and Morgan’s drumming for ground) – and all are working excellently on “An Invisible Thread.” The song doesn’t have the same kind of outward movement as “It was Beautiful but Now it’s Sour,” but the intensity of the first half finds release in the slow riffing and Slayeresque lead-line/ride cymbal interplay that mounts the second. It’s horrific in how huge it sounds, but here too Rwake are in control, and the rumbling noise with which the song ends is suitable aftermath for the low-end apocalypse the song preceding has wrought.

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We’re about a month out from the Sept. 27 release date for Rwake‘s second album for Relapse Records, Rest. The full-length follows four years after Rwake‘s label debut, Voices of Omens, and like that record, it was produced by the ever-vigilant Sanford Parker. It is — and I say this with no exaggeration or sense of hyperbole — a beast.

Voices of Omens delved into apocalyptic metal territory, no doubt about it, but Rest personalizes that process. It makes it human. Sonically, the six tracks encompass a range of extreme genres, from doom to black and death metal to the dirge-hued bombast Rwake have come to trade on over the course of their development. The songs (with the use of a couple choice samples) hit hard enough to satisfy longtime followers of the band, and the expansive scope comes at no cost to that heaviness.

Relapse has been kind enough to let The Obelisk have a couple choice track premieres over the last several months (Hail!Hornet, Indian, the entirety of Rwake‘s reissue of 2002’s Hell is a Door to the Sun), but I don’t know if I’ve been as excited about any of them as I am about this. As you listen, understand that you’re getting a part of the whole here and that each cut on Rest offers something individual to the listener.

Please find “An Invisible Thread” on the player below — followed by an explanation of the track and lyrics from frontman CT — and enjoy.

[mp3player width=460 height=120 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=rwake.xml]

From CT:
“An Invisible Thread” is an anthemic song about the devil’s music, wife abuse, dreamscapes, and the ability to “out of body experience” your very own suicide. It is the “upper” on the album. Not so much uplifting, just more of an all around upper.

Lyrics:
nothing last forever un relived
when all the others give and fucking take
user suck the life to fucking live
imitate life but never recreate

if we knew there would be no fit
if you think you know then you’re fucking full of shit
look around you and embrace it
the long road to hell with no regret

now you feel it cause you’re sick at your stomach
it’s a feeling that no one can run from
it’s a haunting and the sickness is the demon
exorcise through suicide and reason

Rest is available for preorder at this location in 180 gram vinyl, CD or t-shirt bundles, and will be released Sept. 27. Special thanks to Relapse for permission to host the stream.

[UPDATE: The Gates of Slumber have canceled this appearance due to family illness.]

Vocalist CT from Arkansas post-sludge outfit Rwake‘s chronicling of the Southern US heavy underground, Slow Southern Steel, will be making its yankee premiere in Brooklyn next weekend at the Knitting Factory on Aug. 13. This, I admit, is old news, so consider this post a reminder or just a note for anyone who might not have seen it the first time. The vigilant souls over at BrooklynVegan are hosting the event, and will be responsible for the carnage that ensues once the free Jager is gone and the kickass doom begins.

Here’s some info copped from the aforementioned:

BrooklynVegan is proud to announce that we will host the exclusive Northeastern screening of Slow Southern Steel at Knitting Factory on Aug. 13! The screening, which will take place at 10PM, will feature FREE Jagermeister (for a limited time) as well as an appearance from the director CT. Then following the film, Knitting Factory will host performances from some of our favorite doom-y bands The Gates of Slumber, Cough, and Earthling. Tickets are on sale (admission includes the movie and the show).

More details here, and here’s a trailer for the film in case you’re not stoked enough for it:

Originally released in 2002, Rwake‘s Hell is a Door to the Sun is a fucking monster of an album. Long before post-metal solidified and was considered a viable genre, the Little Rock outfit were hard at work blending crushing sludge and darkened ethereal psychedelics in a way that has only become more their own over time.

Relapse Records is set to reissue Hell is a Door to the Sun next week, with a new mix from the ever-present and (why not?) effervescent Sanford Parker, a remaster job and artwork that does the disturbing sounds justice. If, like me, you came aboard the good ship Rwake with 2004’s If You Walk Before You Crawl, You Crawl Before You Die, or after, you really should hear this:

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Rwake‘s Hell is a Door to the Sun will be out on Relapse March 1, 2011. More info and pre-orders here.