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audiObelisk: Spirits of the Dead Premiere “Song of Many Reefs” from Rumours of a Presence

Posted in audiObelisk on May 23rd, 2013 by JJ Koczan

In 2011, Oslo acid folk rockers Spirits of the Dead marked their arrival with the release of their sophomore outing, The Great God Pan. The follow-up to a 2010 full-length, The Great God Pan (review here) was striking in aesthetic as much in performance, the four-piece showcasing a rare ability throughout to blend classic ideology and modern sonics to both the benefit of the material and any and all ears who might hear it and be tired of the retro cultism and post-Coven candlelit Satanic silliness that so often accompanies.

Happy to say, the forthcoming third release from Spirits of the Dead, Rumours of a Presence follows suit and sees the returning lineup of frontman Ragnar Vikse, guitarist Ole Øvstedal, bassist Kristian Hultgren and drummer Geir Thorstensen keeping to a sense of warm tonality without losing sight of either clarity of sound or purpose. In anything, Rumours of a Presence is even more rock-based than was The Great God Pan. Some of the pagan mentality remains — see the “Dance of the Dead” interlude or the earlier “Golden Sun” — but Spirits of the Dead part ways with some of their folkish roots in favor of classic rock swagger and thematic linearity, the album dealing with mortality and the sea lyrically while tracks like “Wheels of the World” nod at Rush and “Song of Many Reefs” mounts an 8-track ready psychedelic apex.

It’s the latter song that I have the pleasure to premiere today from Rumours of a Presence, which is out June 25 on The End Records in North America. “Song of Many Reefs” offers not only one of Spirits of the Dead‘s most memorable grooves, but also an excellent example of their crisp modern approach, which when combined with Øvstedal‘s classic lead work and the stomp of Hultgren and Thorstensen makes for a potent brew not to be taken lightly.

You can check out the track on the player below, followed by some words from Ragnar Vikse about the song’s origins:

Ragnar Vikse on “Song of Many Reefs”

“Song of Many Reefs” is one of our favorite tracks on the album. We had a clear vision about the first part of the song before we went into the studio, while we left the rest more open and loose to unfold as we were there. Lyrics were also made while we were in the studio. It is a song open for interpretation for everyone, but I would say it’s more or less about a traveler with a highly “driven” desire to travel.

Spirits of the Dead on Thee Facebooks

Album Preorder at The End Records

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Spirits of the Dead New Album Due in June

Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Norwegian acid folk rockers Spirits of the Dead return on June 25 with their third album, Rumours of a Presence. Their last album, The Great God Pan (review here), came out in 2011 and successfully touched on pagan sensibilities without sounding either redundant thematically or silly in its forest worship — which as any number of artists who’ve crossed that line probably won’t be able to tell you — isn’t easy. Those in perpetual search for “something different” would do well to take note of the following, which came down the PR wire yesterday:

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD SET TO RELEASE ‘RUMOURS OF A PRESENCE’ JUNE 25, 2013 ON THE END RECORDS

ANNOUNCE EUROPEAN TOUR WITH KADAVAR

PRE-ORDER ‘RUMOURS OF A PRESENCE’ EXCLUSIVE BUNDLE PACKAGES

When “Norway’s finest psychedelic-stoner-folk-band” Spirits of the Dead, released their eponymous debut album in 2008, few could have been more surprised than the band of the album’s overwhelming reviews.

Crowned with a place in Classic Rock Magazine’s “The Best Albums of the Year”, their second album ‘The Great God Pan’ somehow evoked a both retrospective and futuristic quality and made it clear that something was in the making. The band claimed they were “mixing the Sound of the Past with the Sound of the Future”. Well…

Now it’s 2013, and Spirits of the Dead are about to raise the stakes. “Rumours of a Presence” digs deeper and goes to even more profound places than the band has ever been before. Recorded in remote districts of Norway, this grand record lingers on the big questions: Life, Death and the Sea. Well, to be honest…Death and the Sea, really.

Dom Lawson gives us an insight to the record in his liner notes, which can be read here.

Having just announced a European tour with Kadavar, the band looks forward to crossing the ocean to embark on a US tour later in the year.

TOUR DATES WITH KADAVAR
05.10.2013 – DK Copenhagen – Beta
05.11.2013 – DE Hamburg – Klubsen
05.12.2013 – DE Dusseldorf – Stahlwerk
05.13.2013 – DE Nurnberg – Zentralcafe
05.14.2013 – DE Munchen – Backstage
05.15.2013 – DE Frankfurt – Das Bett
05.16.2013 – DE Koln – Underground
05.17.2013 – BE Brussels – Magasin 4
05.18.2013 – NL Rotterdam – Rotown
05.19.2012 – NL Nijmegen – Doornroosje

‘RUMOURS OF A PRESENCE’ TRACKLISTING
01. Wheels Of The World
02. Song Of Many Reefs
03. Golden Sun
04. Dance Of The Dead
05. Rumours Of New Presence
06. Red Death
07. Seaweed
08. Oceanus

Spirits of the Dead, “Fields of Gold”

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Spirits of the Dead, The Great God Pan: A Pagan Folkocalypse

Posted in Reviews on September 20th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

The well-received Norwegian four-piece Spirits of the Dead released their self-titled debut in 2010 to what was – if the extensive collection of press quotes is anything to go by – considerable fanfare. The follow-up to said debut arrives in the form of The Great God Pan (North American release by The End Records), a short but memorable full-length collection of six engaging tracks that hones in on early-‘70s pagan folk with just a hint of dark undercurrent lurking beneath the melodic sweetness. Unlike many other retro acts, Spirits of the Dead aren’t just trying to ape a specific style or one band in particular’s aesthetic – i.e. the way early Witchcraft so directly took on Pentagram. Rather, The Great God Pan is traceable on a more vague level, culling some of its layered lead work from Tony Iommi in its final moments, but progressing as a whole along altogether different lines, and most importantly, taking the retro or otherwise familiar elements of which it’s composed and creating something fresh from them. There is a calmness to The Great God Pan that comes through in its bright tonality, and like the best of their genre, these songs are viewed as though from a grainy, sun-flared photograph.

But though they obviously dwell in a secret forest of krautrock LPs and obscure folkadelia (they have secret forests in Oslo, right?), Spirits of the Dead aren’t limited to retro posturing either. The ringing clarity of the acoustics that begin The Great God Pan opener “Mighty Mountain” and the ensuing distorted guitar revving both sound entirely modern. Guitarist Ole Øvstedal shows restraint throughout the album, and “Mighty Mountain” is just the first instance of it, as the electric guitar again cuts out to acoustic sway, coming back only for a simple start-stop progression in the chorus. Frontman Ragnar Vikse leads the drama of the verses, and proves to be more than capable of taking charge of a song in the classic tradition of the standalone singer. Even with Øvstedal playing a multi-layered lead under, it’s his repetition of the titular chorus line – he’s almost chanting it by then; far back in the mix and echoing – that has the listener enraptured. Drummer Geir Thorstensen keeps to rim shots and jazzy hi-hat/ride interplay for most of “Leaves of Last Year’s Fall,” which is among the more woodland psych of The Great God Pan’s tracks in terms of its atmosphere. Vikse’s voice is deft and almost molten in its ability to jump from note to note, and with the subtle fills of bassist Kristian Hultgren playing out under Øvstedal’s gorgeous leads, there’s a touch of class brought into the song that’s complemented – not undercut – by the somewhat foreboding progression of the bridge. Spirits of the Dead affect a decent build and chaotic payoff, but never meander too far from the straightforward structures on which their material is built.

It’s with “Pure as the Lotus” that The Great God Pan gets its first real injection of ritual. The cut – second in length only to the closer at 6:22 – begins with hard thuds from Thostensen topped with a fuzzy riff from Øvstedal and incantation ah’ing from Vikse, and it’s a clear change in atmosphere from first two songs, the underlying darker vibe of “Leaves of Last Year’s Fall” coming to the fore for the introduction. The single hits of percussion remain a focus and the melody is rounded out by sustained organ in the verse, and the chorus opens more widely into forest worshiping grace. There’s a development to the track that the insistence of Thorstensen and Hultgren’s rhythm helps highlight, but Vikse’s melody seems to be in a world of its own, which helps set up a duality that joins back together as the intro is revived in the song’s back half, leading to a hypnotic, guitar-led instrumental break that eventually fades out on the chorus. Like a lot of The Great God Pan, “Pure as the Lotus” is built around melodic quirk and a heavy dose of personality, but there’s a solid structural foundation underneath. That remains true for the softly-cooed exclamatory title-track, “The Great God Pan!”

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