The statistics of COVID-19 change with every news cycle, and with growing numbers, stay-at-home isolation and a near-universal disruption to society on a global scale, it is ever more important to consider the human aspect of this coronavirus. Amid the sad surrealism of living through social distancing, quarantines and bans on gatherings of groups of any size, creative professionals — artists, musicians, promoters, club owners, techs, producers, and more — are seeing an effect like nothing witnessed in the last century, and as humanity as a whole deals with this calamity, some perspective on who, what, where, when and how we’re all getting through is a needed reminder of why we’re doing so in the first place.

Thus, Days of Rona, in some attempt to help document the state of things as they are now, both so help can be asked for and given where needed, and so that when this is over it can be remembered.

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

Days of Rona: William Miller of The Age of Truth (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

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How are you dealing with this crisis as a band? Have you had to rework plans at all? How is everyone’s health so far?

The band text thread is constantly going all day now instead of just at night and I would guess we are doing a fair bit more drinking than usual, I know I am. On March 16th Philadelphia restricted all non-essential businesses so that has shut down Retro City Studios where we were at the tail end of recording our next album. Mike D. was scheduled to be back in there that week to finish up his guitar work. When we got the text from Joe Boldizar saying the studio was shut down. We were expecting it, but it was still deflating. Especially as we are all really excited about this record. Thankfully, all of us are healthy.

What are the quarantine/isolation rules where you are?

As of March 23rd the governor issued a “Stay at Home” order which is keeping everyone in their residence unless they are travelling for select reasons. They are suggesting less than 10 people at gatherings, social distancing and enforcing the closure of non-essential businesses. Schools are closed so my little girl has been home from kindergarten for the last two and a half weeks. It’s all so strange for us, but she has been pretty close to rock solid the entire time.

How have you seen the virus affecting the community around you and in music?

Around my neighborhood everyone is staying home and keeping their distance from each other when we pass in the street. It has a surreal feeling to it all, but most everyone gets it and is just doing what they think is best for all of us. The worst part is the kids not getting to play with each other. In music just seeing the festivals have to cancel is the most heartbreaking part. You know how much work gets put into making them happen and to have to shut that down after all the time scheduling, logistics, and the money spent. I can only imagine how terrible making that decision has to feel. All the tours too, so sorry for everybody that is going through that. On the bright side, you know some great art is going to come out of this experience. Shakespeare wrote King Lear under quarantine so maybe one of us will create greatness from nothing.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything?

We just saw the largest unemployment report in the country’s history on Thursday and this week will be even worse so people are struggling, especially creative people. We have projects that could use talented people, things like a logo and artwork for our record so send us some ideas. We are definitely hiring (contact@theageoftruth.net).

Most importantly, the only way we get through this is together. Look out for each other sisters and brothers.

http://www.theageoftruth.net
https://theageoftruth.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/theageoftruth
https://www.instagram.com/theageoftruth/
http://www.reverbnation.com/theageoftruth

Okay, so the news here is that Philly noise rockers The Age of Truth are getting ready to issue their debut album, Threshold (review here) on vinyl through Kozmik Artifactz at the end of this month. Preorders are up now. Bitchin’. Congrats to the band; nice pick for the label. Everyone wins.

Take a look though at the PR wire info below, and specifically I’d like to draw your eye to The Age of Truth‘s upcoming live dates. Yeah. Pretty sick. They’re doing the Chicago Doomed and Stoned fest, and Maryland Doom Fest 2018, and club shows besides with the likes of Heavy Temple, Backwoods Payback, Wasted Theory and Witchkiss. Some good-ass shows in there, and especially if you can’t make it to either of the noted festivals, might be one you want to keep in mind. The merch table’s always a good place to pick up a record anyhow.

Info follows in abundance:

THE AGE OF TRUTH debut full-length ‘Threshold’ set for first press vinyl to be released with Kozmik Artifactz on June 29th

The Age Of Truth is four brothers-in-arms from Philadelphia, united in the singular pursuit of creating genuine heaviness for an honestly broken world. Our lives are bathed in twisted deception and they unravel it with a scouring purity. With a fully stocked riff arsenal wrapped in tones of Satanic honey, The Age Of Truth blends fuzz and diesel into heavy psych blues and stoner rock. The perfect soundtrack for a barroom brawl ignited from a single lie.

Their debut album Threshold was released November 1, 2017, and dominated for multiple months within the DoomCharts, as well as ranking #8 of the ‘Top 20 Albums of 2017’ at MoreFuzz.net. The Philly quartet has steadily built a reputation among the heavy underground music world with their superb debut, and will confirm their standing with upcoming appearances at the first Chicago Doomed & Stoned Fest, as well as the fourth edition of The Maryland Doom Fest.

Now for the first time, Kozmik Artifactz will bring this phenomenal slab of stoner rock to wax, with an exclusive vinyl release this June 29th. Plated and pressed on high performance vinyl at Pallas/Germany; with a limited and colored vinyl, 300gsm gatefold cover, and special vinyl mastering. A reissued CD format will also be available.

Pre-orders will begin June 1st at Kozmik-Artifactz.com

The Age Of Truth on Kozmik Artifactz: http://kozmik-artifactz.com/artist/the-age-of-truth/

HE AGE OF TRUTH is:

Kevin McNamara: Vocals
Mike DiDonato: Guitar
Scott Frassetto: Drums
William Miller: Bass

In addition to the upcoming vinyl press, Threshold is available now on CD, digital download, and full-stream via The Age Of Truth Bandcamp page, as well as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and regular internet radio rotation on Pandora.

The debut album was self-produced by The Age Of Truth and published by Hammerhead Music. Recording, engineering, and mixing was done by Joseph Boldizar at Retro City Studios in Philadelphia, PA; mastering by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL; album design and artwork by Michele Fitzgerald; and art direction by Damien Rizzello and The CHAOS Custom.

Threshold – Track List:
Host (Demon In Me)
Come Back A God
Supernatural Salesman
Holding Hands Like Thieves
Caroline
Oceanbones
Hígado de Hierro (interlude)
Threshold
Honeypot (Bonus Track)

Upcoming Live Dates:
Jun 1 – Chicago IL @ Reggie’s – Chicago Doomed & Stoned Festival
Jun 6 – Wilmington DE @ Oddity Bar
Jun 21 – Philadelphia PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (w/The Stone Eye, Transit Method, Rollin’ Loaded)
Jun 23 – Frederick MD @ Cafe 611 – THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST
Jul 6 – Wilmington DE @ Oddity (w/Kingsnake, Wasted Theory, Blood Law)
Jul 20 – Swarthmore PA @ War3house (w/The Electric Mud)
Jul 21 – Philadelphia PA @ Mestosis Room (w/Kingsnake, Temet Nosce, Mesmeria, Strange Aeons)
Jul 23 – Monclair NJ @ Meatlocker (w/Backwoods Payback, Witchkiss)
Aug 3 – West Chester PA @ Sprout Music Collective (w/Heavy Temple, Backwoods Payback)

http://www.theageoftruth.net
https://theageoftruth.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/theageoftruth
https://www.instagram.com/theageoftruth/
http://www.twitter.com/theageoftruth
http://www.reverbnation.com/theageoftruth

The Age of Truth, Threshold (2017/2018)

[Click play above to stream The Age of Truth’s Threshold in its entirety. Album is out Nov. 1 via Kozmik Artifactz.]

Philadelphia heavy rockers The Age of Truth make their full-length debut via Kozmik Artifactz with the eight-track Threshold. They are a four-piece comprised of guitarist Michael DiDonato, standalone vocalist Kevin McNamara, bassist/vocalist William Miller and drummer Adam Lauver — Eric Fisher played on the album, which was recorded and mixed by Joseph Boldizar at Retro City Studios in Philly — and all of these details become crucially important to the record itself when one actually digs in for a listen. This is because The Age of Truth so quickly establish a range of influence that veers well outside the City of Brotherly Love. Songs like “Supernatural Salesman,” the verses of eight-minute side B opener “Caroline” and “Oceanbones” find the singer very much out front on vocal duties as the backing progressions bring to mind Clutch, but Maryland isn’t so far from Eastern Pennsylvania if we’re thinking of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and the bulk of Threshold gives a far more European impression.

Enough so particularly in the performance and production around the vocals that one might be tempted to look at their lineup and wonder if there’s any way McNamara could be interpreted as a Swedish name. From the moment the frontman begins to top the semi-prog chug of DiDonato‘s thick, layered guitar in opener “Host (Demon in Me),” and certainly in subsequent cuts like “Come back a God,” “Holding Hands Like Thieves” the soaring chorus of “Caroline” and the winding closer of a title-track, McNamara‘s performance has enough gut-tightened lung push push to recall the likes of Janne “JB” Christoffersson during his time in Spiritual Beggars, John Hermansen‘s work on The Awesome Machine‘s underrated Soul of a Thousand Years, or even the classic presence that Magnus Ekwall brings to The Quill.

These comparisons are compliments not made lightly when it comes to what McNamara adds to the 44-minute album, which tops 50 minutes when the bonus track “Honeypot” is factored in, but the band is by no means only about this one element. Rather, the varied impressions of the songs are bolstered through a clearly diverse writing process — one suspects but has no confirmation of multiple contributors — and given further depth still by being drawn together through the fullness of the production and an edge of noise rock that seems to infiltrate the sound no matter where The Age of Truth are ultimately headed. It’s not just about intensity of delivery, either. True, “Come Back a God” wants nothing for energy behind its densely-packed fuzz tones and blown-out hook — one of several landmarks throughout Threshold — but even in the more laid back “Holding Hands Like Thieves,” the blues-driven “Caroline” or the rolling burl of “Honeypot,” where DiDonato‘s tone seems to singularly shout out toward The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote-era Scott “Wino” Weinrich, there’s an almost intangible aspect to The Age of Truth that draws from punk-based roots.

The production around Miller‘s low end and the crispness of Lauver‘s drumming are big factors as well. One can hear it in “Supernatural Salesman” as much as the initial thrust of “Host (Demon in Me),” which launches Threshold in medias res and ties together with the finale title-track in underscoring a further complementary enrichment of the band’s sound: the previously-alluded-to progressive underpinning. They’re not engaging anything technically showy or anything like that but neither are their arrangements or progressions unthinking, and that’s shown in the two longer tracks — “Host (Demon in Me)” is 7:42, second only to “Caroline” at 8:11 — as the opener breaks into an open midsection before delivering its parenthetical title line as it builds toward its second-half apex and ends in feedback, and likewise, as “Caroline” moves from its blues to boogie shuffle, there’s an echoing space set in motion by DiDonato‘s dual-layer solo that, as it leads into the final slowdown, brims with enough complexity and purpose to resonate as progressive fare.

A further degree of nuance shows itself as “Threshold” seems to directly answer the spirit of “Host (Demon in Me)” in unfolding its own guitar-led movement, more patient and less aggressive in its charge than the opener, but still rich in its presentation and how it ties together sundry pieces of the record that bears its name. McNamara seems to underscore the representative point by referencing the band’s moniker in the chorus even as he draws upon another previously unheard influence, topping the last bit of shove with a series of repeated “Come on!”s that one half expects to be followed by an invitation to go “Space Trucking.” Sadly (maybe), that invite doesn’t come, but “Honeypot” as a bonus cut does offer a more classic feel to its roll that stands it out somewhat from the bulk of Threshold, though in its comfortable mid-paced fluidity, one finds again an impression drawn from European fare in terms of the vocals.

This may be a source of novelty or intrigue when it comes to early listens of Threshold, but between the record’s art drawing from the theme of the alleged C.I.A. murder of Frank Olson (a scientist experimenting with biological agents who was also dosed with LSD without his knowledge as part of the MK-Ultra project) and the fact that the band’s range is nonetheless presented as a cohesive and well-developed sonic persona of their own rather than simply a series of pieces sourced elsewhere, their debut hits with a marked impact that more than earns multiple revisits. Indeed, “Holding Hands Like Thieves” and “Oceanbones,” which might seem easily digested or overshadowed by compatriot tracks in some way, stand themselves out further on going back through Threshold again, and ultimately do much to tie together the flow that emerges throughout this impressive and thoughtful-but-not-overcooked debut. That The Age of Truth would strike such a rare balance their first time out of course speaks to the forward potential for what they might go on to accomplish craft-wise, but that shouldn’t be considered in place of the achievements they’ve already made in this material, which are significant.

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