In case you didn’t see it, the benevolent soul known as Ollie from Grifter put a post in the news forum about kickass UK bands worth checking out. He’s got some winners in there for sure, his own band among them, but a name that stood out to me was that of Welsh instrumental foursome Thorun, who’d been in touch recently about their (relatively) new EP, Chorus of Giants. Self-released back toward the end of last year and recorded completely live, the six tracks of Thorun‘s second EP display thick tones and lofty grooves, with a bit of ’70s influence lurking beneath the surface of their modern doomly vibing.

Chorus of Giants is actually pretty diverse once you get to the meat of it. The charmingly titled “Hipster Circle Pit” seems to toy with post-metallic progressivism in the guitar while the bass and Mike Johnson‘s drums keep the motion straightforward, and were it not for the monstrous low end coming from six-stringers Keeran Williams and Jonny Evans and bassist Neal Palmer, the earlier “Ivan the Terrible” might be genuine boogie rock. Whatever dynamics might be sacrificed in the singularity of tone, however, are more than accounted for in Chorus of Giants‘ live feel and the interplay among the musicians. It’s thick, and it moves like something thick, but there’s a sense of melody to be found as well and it doesn’t lose sight of the riffs leading its way.

A little under two minutes of noise in “Dark Ocean Song” paves the way for the slow build of the title-track, Palmer‘s bass providing the foundation, and “God Particle” might have the collection’s most solid groove. In any case, I thought the tracks were worth checking out, even though it’s been available for a while at this point. Thorun have downloads available at their Bandcamp page, and they’re on Thee Facebooks if you want to drop a line. They’ve also got a nifty website with a color scheme that looks awfully familiar. Here’s the entirety of Chorus of Giants, just for kicks:

Welsh four-piece Sigiriya garner immediate interest based solely on their pedigree — all four members of the band used to be in Acrimony — but on their debut album, Return to Earth (released Sept. 1 on The Church Within), it’s the songs themselves that hold the attention. Likewise, one listen through Return to Earth, and it’s plain to see why the members of Sigiriya, when they were getting this project together, decided against just making it a 4/5 Acrimony reunion: Tumuli Shroomaroom this ain’t.

Rather, Sigiriya takes the riffy center that was always under the resin-caked grooves of Acrimony and brings it to the forefront. Songs like “Robot Funeral” and “Tobacco Sunrise” offer more straightforward heavy rock, and though Return to Earth gets even heavier at times (“Dark Fires” borders on metal), the album is precisely as Sigiriya wanted it to be in that it modernizes the approach of the members’ prior band without sacrificing what made them want to get back together in the first place.

Guitarist Stuart O’Hara, drummer Darren Ivey, bassist Paul “Mead” Bidmead and vocalist Dorian Walters took the moniker Sigiriya from a sacred mountain in Sri Lanka, and though that alone might lead one to think their songs would be spiritual explorations rife with sitar and vague interpretations of ancient mysticism, Return to Earth isn’t that at all. True to its name, the album keeps its head down, it’s amps up, and wants much more to kick your ass than to trip you out. Either way, it’s a killer ride. Full review is here.

In the discussion that follows, Ivey talks about what made Sigiriya come together some eight years after Acrimony‘s last studio release (a split with Japenese masters of mayhem, Church of Misery), why they did so without the involvement of former Acrimony second guitarist Lee Davies, now of the more commercially-minded rock outfit Lifer, how they got hooked up with The Church Within, their plans following the release of Return to Earth, and much more. As theirs is one of the more impressive debuts I’ve heard in 2011, I’m thrilled to be able to bring you this interview.

Please find enclosed the complete email Q&A with Darren Ivey of Sigiriya, and please enjoy.

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Well, if there’s one thing “Mountain Goat” and “Deathtrip,” the two brand new tracks posted by the UK‘s Sigiriya, show us, it’s that the dudes from Acrimony have been keeping up with stoner rock for the nine years since their original band broke up. Sigiriya has four out of the five Acrimony members — only guitarist Lee Davies is absent — and under their new moniker, the band plays a totally modern, much less shroomed take on riff metal. In no way is Sigiriya a throwback or an attempt to recapture Acrimony‘s past greatness. One expects if they wanted to do that, they would have just reunited Acrimony.

The shorter “Mountain Goat” and more expansive “Deathtrip” were posted on SoundCloud, which I’m going to pretend to have heard of before for fear of being behind the times. SoundCloud allows for embedding its players, so you can hear both songs below (or click here). “Mountain Goat” is definitely the more straightforward of the two songs; at 3:22 it’s a recognizable stoner excursion. At over 10 minutes, however, “Deathtrip” does the bulk of the work distinguishing Sigiriya from both Acrimony and the modern stoner metal scene. The guitar of Stuart O’Hara comes on well-layered, offering melody and crunch, and vocalist Dorian Walters seems more melodically capable as well for his time away. It’s been nine years. A little development shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

And the rhythm section — bassist Paul Bidmead and drummer Darren Ivey — are as locked in on “Deathtrip” as they ever were on Acrimony‘s now-classic Tumuli Shroomaroom, proving no less adept at keeping a groove going during the song’s lengthy jam than during the riffy freakouts of yore. I’ll say if you dug/dig Acrimony you’ll like Sigiriya, but that’s not because they’re the same musically. Despite the subtle end of “Deathtrip,” Sigiriya is (at least going by these two songs) much less psychedelic. They’re doing what the age demands of them, and they’re doing it well. As someone into Acrimony, but more as someone into Sigiriya, I look forward to hearing more.