Jeez, Unearthly Trance. Save some crushing misanthropy for the rest of the class, would you? Or, you know, don’t. It would seem the intervening six-plus years have done little to dull the multifaceted intensity of the Brooklyn extreme sludge outfit, though that genre descriptor does little to capture their actual stylistic swath, which is just as likely to pull from death or black metal as from a meaty stoner riff.

Their last album, V (review here), came out in 2010, and in addition to essentially having picked up where they left off in terms of releasing through Relapse Records — that should say something in itself about the persistent appeal of the band; “Oh hey it’s been more than half a decade mind putting this out alright cool” — and having been recently confirmed to take part in Roadburn 2017 with more fest announcements to come, the trio have set a Feb. 24 release for Stalking the Ghost, their sixth full-length, and unveiled the track “Dream State Arsenal,” which if you’re feeling daring you can hear below.

Cover art is by Orion Landau, and not that you need me to tell you, but it’s pretty awesome.

From the PR wire:

UNEARTHLY TRANCE Announces New Album Stalking The Ghost; Premieres First Single

New York City sludge/doom/drone trio UNEARTHLY TRANCE reemerges from the shadows with Stalking The Ghost, their sixth full-length recording and first album in over seven years.

February 24th, 2017 will see the worldwide release of Stalking The Ghost via Relapse Records on CD, LP, and digital formats. Physical preorders and bundles are available via Relapse.com HERE and digital downloads can be preordered via Bandcamp at THIS LOCATION.

An esoteric ritual of seismic doom, Stalking The Ghost taps into the darkest realms of the occult over the course of seven tracks that reek of utter despair. Forming a balance between slow-churning maelstrom and spine-chilling harmony, wrapped beneath a blackened cloud of rumbling feedback, UNEARTHLY TRANCE sounds more powerful and exploratory than ever before. Recorded at Menegroth/The Thousand Caves Studios by Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Panopticon) and featuring cover art by Orion Landau (Yob, Red Fang, Graves At Sea), Stalking The Ghost restores misery to a gentrifying city.
Stalking The Ghost Track Listing:
1. Into The Spiral
2. Dream State Arsenal
3. Sycthe
4. Famine
5. Lion Strength
6. Invisible Butchery
7. The Great Cauldron
8. In The Forests Keep
In related news, UNEARTHLY TRANCE has been confirmed for next year’s prestigious Roadburn Festival with additional live dates to be announced soon.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE:
4/20/2017 Roadburn – Tilburg, NL

Hailing from Long Island/Brooklyn, New York, UNEARTHLY TRANCE was forged in 2000 by Ryan Lipynsky (guitar, vocals) and Jay Newman (bass), with Darren Verni (drums) joining the following year. Over the past fifteen-plus years, the trio has been creating the loudest, most harrowing blackened doom/sludge in the region. UNEARTHLY TRANCE established their early defining sound with the release of their first two full-lengths (2003’s Season Of Séance, Science Of Silence and 2004’s In The Red) released on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records.

In 2006, UNEARTHLY TRANCE signed with Relapse Records and released three more critically acclaimed full-lengths (2006’s The Trident, 2008’s Electrocution, and 2010’s V) exposing the world to a palpable growth in their doom/sludge foundation and well-crafted songwriting. Over the years, the band has brought their crushing live show across North America, the UK, and Europe with legendary and acclaimed acts such as Electric Wizard, The Melvins, High On Fire, Grief, Sunn O))), Pelican, Sleep, Morbid Angel, Floor, Autopsy, Crowbar, and more.

http://www.facebook.com/UnearthlyTrance
https://unearthlytrance.bandcamp.com/album/stalking-the-ghost
http://www.relapse.com
http://www.relapserecords.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords
http://www.twitter.com/RelapseRecords

Unearthly Trance, “Dream State Arsenal”

Roadburn 2017 adds 26 new bands to its lineup. Let me spell that out: TWENTY-SIX. And from My Dying Bride to Sumac to Scissorfight to Memoriam to Valborg, it’s precisely the kind of all-things-to-all-people mix that one has come to expect from the annual April festival, promising an experience like no other in John Dyer Baizley‘s curated event, as well as sets from the likes of Gong and Backwoods Payback and Suma and Unearthly Trance, the latter two who were former US tourmates once upon a time and will reunite in Tilburg this coming Spring. Blown away by how huge this event has become, and how every year it just seems to keep growing and moving forward. Sit back and look at the poster below for today’s adds. It’s astounding.

Tickets on sale now. From the PR wire:

Twenty six new bands added to the Roadburn 2017 line up

My Dying Bride will take to the Roadburn stage for the first time
David Tibet and Youth will perform as Hypnopaz?zu
Wolves In The Throne Room return from hibernation
Memoriam breathe new life into death metal
Wear Your Wounds show a different side to Jacob Bannon as part of John Dyer Baizley’s curation
Carpenter Brut take synthwave to new and exciting places
Those Poor Bastards conjure up the image of two undead holy preachers
….and more

MY DYING BRIDE:
My Dying Bride have been confirmed to make their Roadburn Festival debut at the 2017 edition of the festival. As one of the leading lights of metal during the 90s, where they helped to further define what doom metal really was and where it could still go, this West Yorkshire bunch earned a place in metal history. They’ve done it all and somehow have managed to remain fresh and inventive.

The influential British doom band will perform a suitably mournful doom-filled set on Saturday, 22 April, 2017 at the 013 venue.
Read more about My Dying Bride here.

HYPNOPAZ?ZU:
It’s PixieTime

Girls and Boys—

For our HypnoPickNick

Bring Moons and Toys!

We are thrilled to announce that Hypnopaz?zu (David Tibet of Current 93 and Youth of Killing Joke) will perform at Roadburn Festival 2017, alongside Ulver, on Sunday, April 23 at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands. Their album, Create Christ, Sailor Boy, ranks among our albums of the year at Roadburn HQ, and we cannot wait to witness it brought to life on stage at Roadburn 2017.

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM:

Wolves In The Throne Room will be returning to Europe for the first time since 2012, and since they announced their subsequent hiatus. The band will steer away from the ambient and ethereal landscapes they created on their 2014 album Celestite, instead setting their sights on the more raw and earthy sounds from earlier in their back catalogue. Whatever choice cuts they select to serve up, the set is sure to be a masterclass in atmospheric black metal from one of the most important bands to leave their mark on the genre in recent years.

Wolves In The Throne Room will play at Roadburn Festival 2017 on Thursday, April 20, at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

MEMORIAM:

Bolt Thrower’s Karl Willetts started Memoriam as “a celebration of life through death metal”, and the results are exactly as one might expect. Having recruited Benediction bassist, Frank Healy, former Bolt Thrower drummer, Andy Whale, plus guitarist Scott Fairfax, Memoriam are clearly on an old school, death metal mission.

Willetts commented: “Memoriam are pleased to announce that they will be playing at the acclaimed Roadburn festival in 2017.

“We have seen this festival grow over the years and for us to be among the illustrious selection of bands playing this year is an honour!!! With our debut album to be released sometime early 2017 Roadburn will give us the opportunity to showcase our new material. Memoriam will unleash its devastating weaponry upon Roadburn 2017 and provide a true celebration of life through old school death metal.”

Follow Memoriam onward into battle on Saturday, 22 April when they play at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

WEAR YOUR WOUNDS:

Wear Your Wounds – Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon’s intensely personal project – is an outlet he has been quietly feeding over the years, a repository for his lo-fi solo recordings that will now finally see the light. Scheduled for April 7th, just a couple of weeks before Roadburn, Wear Your Wounds’ first self-titled full length has us sitting on our hands with excitement.

John Dyer Baizley comments:
“I’ve never seen them perform (who has, really?) so it goes without saying that I will be front and center for this moment. The lineup for Wear Your Wounds will include the following, in addition to Jake Bannon himself: Chris Maggio (Sleigh Bells, Trap Them, Coliseum), Mike Mckenzie (The Red Chord, Stomach Earth, Unraveller) Adam McGrath (Cave In, Zozobra, Nomad Stones), and Sean Martin (Hatebreed, Twitching Tongues, Kid Cudi, Cage). Don’t let that list fool you, THIS IS NOT A SUPERGROUP, but its hard to deny the talent and power within those musicians and collaborators. Please don’t miss the opportunity to witness their first-ever performance.”

CARPENTER BRUT:

Carpenter Brut take the essence of metal that you like, the parts of techno that you used to like and the atmospheric film music of Carpenter/Argento/Goblin that you love, to create a heady, melodic and intense genre. This French outfit is taking the synthwave to new and exciting places.

Carpenter Brut play on Saturday, 22 April at the 013 venue, Tilburg.

THOSE POOR BASTARDS:

Sounding like two undead holiness preachers, crawling out of an abandoned Mississippi graveyard consumed by the foul bog and delivering their message of the endtimes, Those Poor Bastards will hover around the next edition of Roadburn determined to convince you that your eternal soul is already damned beyond redemption.

With the devil on their trail and the graveyard constantly looming ahead, Those Poor Bastards will ruin Het Patronaat when they play their ghoulish songs on Thursday, 20 April at Roadburn 2017 in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

ALSO CONFIRMED:

(DOLCH) lined up to shapeshift and mystify
ASH BORER deliver innovative Cascadian black metal to the Roadburn masses
BACKWOODS PAYBACK deliver honest expressions of heartfelt, heavy rock and roll
CASUAL NUN to deliver downright heavy psych
COME TO GRIEF will pay homage to Grief’s legacy
EMMA RUTH RUNDLE will perform a set thick with emotion and densely packed with honesty
ESBEN AND THE WITCH promise to delight with atmospheric, apocalyptic rock
FANGE make their debut with heaps of D-Beat and amplifier worship
GONG will lead us into psych rock sonic anarchy
NO SPILL BLOOD to demonstrate a fusion of muscular, sludgy punk energy and swirling synthesiser noise as part of John Dyer Baizley’s curated event.
OXBOW will release their next album, Thin Black Duke, shortly ahead of their Roadburn performance
SCISSORFIGHT promise to “unleash some New Hampshire backwoods debauchery”
SUMA bring their abrasive doom from Sweden
SUMAC sees the return of Aaron Turner to Roadburn with his denser-than-a-black-hole outfit
UNEARTHLY TRANCE set to combine the nihilism and confrontational approach of real sludge, both in lyrics and in actual musical delivery
VALBORG return to deliver another dose of their bleakly elegant presence.
VANUM will set Roadburn ablaze with a blend of icy melody and blackened atmospheric majesty
WOLVENNEST will churn up some utterly hypnotic, sonik soundscapery
YOUTH CODE show off their aggressive and expansive modern take on the EBM sounds of the 80s as part of John Dyer Baizley’s curated event.

Artists already announced for Roadburn 2017 include Coven, Warning (playing Watching from a Distance in full), Artists in Residence – GNOD, Mysticum, Oranssi Pazuzu, Deafheaven, Chelsea Wolfe, and our 2017 curator, John Baizley who will perform with Baroness, plus many more. Roadburn Festival will take place 20-23 April, 2017 at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Tickets are on sale for Roadburn 2017 and can be purchased from this link.
4 day – 195 Euro
3 day (Thu, Fri, Sat) – 172 Euro
Single day ticket, Sunday only – 54 Euro

Thursday, Friday and Saturday single day tickets will be on sale at a later date.

http://www.roadburn.com/
https://www.facebook.com/roadburnfestival
https://twitter.com/roadburnfest

Scissorfight, Chaos County (2016)

If you want to feel old today, we’re now 16 years removed from Unearthly Trance first getting together. The Brooklyn trio reunited in Spring 2015 and have made select appearances since, playing local shows and doing a West Coast run last fall that included a stop at Midnite Communion III in Long Beach, California, where they joined Morne, Dopethrone and a host of expertly-curated others.

Six years have gone by since their fifth album, V (review here), was issued by Relapse Records, but the band has posted notice that their upcoming sixth full-length, to be titled Stalking the Ghost, has finished its recording process. Tracking took place with Colin Marston (Gorguts, Behold! the Arctopus) at The Thousand Caves, and Relapse will once again handle putting it out.

There’s still a lot to be learned about the record — most importantly what it might sound like. V was the most developed album that Unearthly Trance put out during their initial run, but guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky has been exploring a variety of different influences in acts like The Howling Wind and Serpentine Path — in which Unearthly Trance bassist Jay Newman and drummer Darren Verni also play — so whether or not that might have any impact on Stalking the Ghost is up in the air. Their doomly form had become pretty amorphous stylistically by the time they called it quits, so even if they’re picking up where they left off, it seems fair to expect some expanse of ground to be covered.

No release date yet, but one to look forward to:

We have finished recording our new album entitled “Stalking The Ghost”! We all think it came out absolutely massive and is our best work yet. Colin Marston was a pleasure to work with and we are beyond excited to have this album be released on Relapse Records!

More info soon!

https://www.facebook.com/UnearthlyTrance/
http://unearthly-trance.blogspot.com/
www.relapse.com
https://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords/

Unearthly Trance, Live at Midnite Communion III

If you’d like to put the split release between Brooklyn doomers Unearthly Trance and Wooden Wand into some kind of context — and hey, who doesn’t love context? — the year it first came out on Chrome Peeler Records, 2010, was the same year that Unearthly Trance released their final to-date album, V (review here), on Relapse. They also had a collaborative release out that year with Swedish outfit Suma, with whom they toured. Wooden Wand, in the meantime, released the Death Seat album through Michael Gira‘s Young God Records after working with Thurston Moore‘s Ecstatic Peace imprint on 2009’s Hard Knox.

Neither outfit, then, coming into the split in anything resembling a slouch. Unearthly Trance would call it quits soon enough — I think in no small part because of the aforementioned tour — but the Manson split remains a curio, with Unearthly Trance and Wooden Wand both taking on songs written by the serial killer, and both working in a decidedly dark but quiet aesthetic, the underlying threat of the material made plain across its relatively brief span.

Chrome Peeler, in order to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the release and Unearthly Trance‘s return to activity this month with a West Coast tour, has made the tracks available as a name-your-price download. The particulars:

Unearthly Trance / Wooden Wand “Manson” 7″

Celebrate the 5th anniversary of UNEARTHLY TRANCE / WOODEN WAND “Manson” 7″. Now available to download HERE.

About the record:
Unearthly Trance reach into the hole of the infinite with their haunting version of Charles Manson’s “People Say I’m No Good” while Wooden Wand programs the young love with a version of “Get On Home.” Originally released in an edition of 200 that sold out instantly.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE side recorded at SIR, NYC 2010.

WOODEN WAND side recorded at Pagan Sound, Lexington, KY spring 2010.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE WEST COAST TOUR
Nov. 13-14 – Midnite Communion III at The Breakers, Long Beach CA w/ Morne, Brainoil, Dopethrone & more
Nov. 15 – The Golden Bull, Oakland CA w/ CHRCH, Abstracter
Nov. 16 – Club 66, Ashland OR
Nov. 17 – Star Theater, Portland OR w/ Samothrace, Ephemeros
Nov. 18 – The Highline, Seattle WA w/ Samothrace, MG?A, Weregoat
Nov. 19 – Hindenberg, Vancouver BC w/ Usnea, Haggatha

http://chromepeelerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unearthly-trance-wooden-wand-manson-7
http://www.chromepeeler.com/
http://www.twitter.com/chromepeeler

Unearthly Trance & Wooden Wand, Manson Split (2010)

Seems a little strange that Midnite Collective‘s Midnite Communion III: Midnite Masquerade fest this Nov. will take place in Long Beach, California, which is kind of the place on earth with the nicest weather ever, but if there was a lineup to darken a sky, this would seem to be it. The lineup boasts the likes of Buried at Sea, Morne, Church, Unearthly Trance, Beneath Oblivion and others, and the uniting factor seems to be an extremity of sludge and doom. Not sure what the Empire Ballroom of The Breakers in Long Beach is like, but the atmosphere will likely darken with an art show and the onslaught of distortion and volume.

Dig it if you dare:

MIDNITE COMMUNION III: MIDNITE MASQUERADE Reveals 2015 Dates & Lineup

Upon this third-annual celebration of dark arts, crafts, and music, Midnite Collective has gathered seven artists from around the world, eight bands from the far reaches of North America, and with the help of Below (a curator of all things beautifully gloomy) brought together a gifted group to fill our Craft Gala*. Now spanning two evenings, Communion III: Midnite Masquerade will host an elegant mass on Friday, November 13th to continue the evening of Saturday, November 14th within the Empire Ballroom of The Breakers in Long Beach.

Midnite Collective’s Announcement & Invitation follows…

It is our esteemed privilege to present:

COMMUNION III:
“MIDNITE MASQUERADE”
Curated by Midnite Collective

with Live Performances from

NOVEMBER 13th
MORNE · BURIED AT SEA · DOPETHRONE · CHURCH

NOVEMBER 14th
UNEARTHLY TRANCE · BRAINOIL · FÓRN · BENEATH OBLIVION

Featuring Original Artwork by

Brandon Holt
Glyn Smyth
Sin-Eater
Rotten Fantom
Jason Barnett
Førtifem
& Photo Narrative by
Steph Cammarano

With surprises still to come..

Please Note: Capacity is extremely limited in this unique venue, creating an intimate environment to experience this ceremony. Thus, there will be no door sales once reservations sell out online.
All attendees must be over 21 and no regrets will be issued.

* Craft Gala is on Saturday only with full art exhibit free of charge; this portion of the event is all-ages and has extended hours beginning at 4pm until 10pm in a room apart from the musical portion of the evening.

Tickets are on sale now RIGHT HERE.

LINKS:
facebook.com/midnitecollective
twitter.com/midnitemasses

Atriarch, Live at Midnite Communion II

It’s been a minute since Unearthly Trance had anything going, but since the three members of the band have been working in Serpentine Path, I guess a reunion as Unearthly Trance never seemed out of the question. Well, it’s happened. After issuing what was called “their final release” in the form of the 2CD compilation Ouroboros last December on Throne Records, the three-piece has come back together and are at worm on new material for a sixth full-length and have announced three live dates in Brooklyn and out on Long Island that seem like a solid start — they’re certainly keeping good company — for a group getting back together in this incarnation.

Just off the PR wire:

UNEARTHLY TRANCE: Band Announces Reformation; Live Performances

Like a phoenix undead, Brooklyn based black/doom/sludge trio Unearthly Trance has returned! After putting the band on ice in 2012, Darren Verni, Ryan Lipynsky and Jay Newman have decided to resurrect and start playing together once again. The band is already currently writing new music for what will be their sixth full-length album and fourth for Relapse Records.

2015 has shown sparks of life already for the band with the 2xCD release of Ouroboros; a compilation of hard to find songs, vinyl only releases and a few unreleased gems from years past. This collection was released on Throne Records and is available at this location.

In the past Unearthly Trance has shared the stage with the heaviest bands on the planet including The Melvins, Sleep, Electric Wizard, High On Fire, Autopsy and Morbid Angel to name a few. Now Unearthly Trance have announced their first performances in over three years with a few NYC area shows booked in May and July with support from Samothrace, Primitive Man and Churchburn. A series of Northeast dates are also in the works for August as well as a soon to be announced Fest in California this November. A complete listing of confirmed dates is available below.

Although Unearthly Trance became inactive in 2012, the three members were still active and releasing monolithic death/doom records under the banner of Serpentine Path which includes Tim Bagshaw (Ramesses, Electric Wizard) and Stephen Flam (Winter). Serpentine Path will be performing at this year’s Maryland Death Fest 2015 in Baltimore on May 23rd. Lipynsky and Newman also have a new project called Humanless and Lipynsky also keeps busy with Black Metal band The Howling WInd and newer band Force & Fire. Newman has also appeared on the debut recording from Kaiju Daisenso and Verni also pounds the drums for The Sheltering Sky.

Stay tuned for more news on Unearthly Trance including a new merch store (http://unearthlytrance.merchdirect.com/) and a new blog for future info http://unearthly-trance.blogspot.com/

Unearthly Trance Tour Dates:

May 24th 2015 @ Saint Vitus – Brooklyn, NY W/ Samothrace, Trenchgrinder and Beefrot
July 17th 2015 @ The Acheron – Brooklyn, NY W/ Churchburn and Belus
July 21st 2015 @ Sinclairs -Babylon, NY W/ Primitive Man, Opium Lord, Mother Brain, Afterbirth + more

https://unearthlytrance1.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/UnearthlyTrance
https://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Unearthly Trance, V (2010)

If there’s a prevailing atmosphere on, V, the aptly-titled fifth album by New York City doomers Unearthly Trance, it is despair. No doubt Saint Vitus, who named their fifth full-length the same thing in 1989, were in mind for the trio, and on some levels it’s a fair comparison. If you look at it at just the right angle, Unearthly Trance play slow, are tortured, give a solid showing of aural anguish as did the West Coast doom progenitors, but where their V (absolutely nothing against it) reveled in its simplicity, Unearthly Trance seem bent on making their sound as complex and multi-faceted as possible.

For me, V finds its high point in “Adversaries Mask 1” and “Adversaries Mask 2.” Together, the pair run just a little longer than seven-minute opener “Unveiled” and “Solar Eye,” but the former’s semi-minimalist approach might represent the most brutal moment on V while also being the quietest, and the latter’s unbridled chaos shows a new side of Unearthly Trance the band has been able to incorporate into their sound. “Adversaries Mask 2” plays out like a more misanthropic take on Neurosis’ Given to the Rising; there’s no real structure other than that provided by the consistent tom work of drummer Darren Verni and the running lines of bassist Jay Newman, no riffs to speak of from guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky, whose screams are also perhaps at their most brutal, and a pervading sense of the deranged often neglected when bands “go off” in such ways. As “Adversaries Mask 2” gives way to the more riff-driven “The Tesla Effect” — on which Lipynsky shows his time has been well spent in black metal outfit The Howling Wind — the adrenaline level of the whole album rises and the contrast between the songs only heightens the appeal of both.

“The Tesla Effect” is something of a return to normality for Unearthly Trance after the suckerpunch duo of tracks, getting back to the plodding, crashing, tonal heft of earlier material like “The Horsemen Arrive in the Night” without aping it or sounding formulaic. If anything V is the opposite, too much all over the place, but that’s a superficial judgment. The more time you spend with the record, the more you’re going to understand its flow and when the cymbal-driven groove of “Sleeping While They Feast” moves into the lumbering crash/scream-fest “Submerged Metropolis” — like a more filled-out Khanate — the transition won’t be so much like slamming into a wall as, well, it’s still kind of like slamming into a wall, but in a more understandable way.

Read more »

August 2nd at Public Assembly. We’ll see if I’m cool enough to get in the door. Congrats to the recently-reviewed Stats for getting on such a killer bill.