Balam Premiere Title-Track of New Album Days of Old
Rhode Island traditional doom firebands Balam are gearing up to release their full-length debut, Days of Old, early in 2015. In fact, they’ve been “gearing up” for a decent portion of this year. The first signs of Days of Old surfaced via their Bandcamp over the summer in the form of the track “With the Lost,” and as we push into cold, dark winter, their fuzzed-out, classic-styled doom seems all the more vital.
You ever want to frustrate the hell out of a band, put them in the time between recording and releasing an album. I don’t envy Balam this contingency-sorting stretch — though they’ve continued to play shows through it — but with a 2015 issue on the horizon, the double-guitar five-piece are ready to unveil another slab of Days of Old, and I’m only too happy to comply. The title-track, “Days of Old,” can be heard on the player below.
Balam recorded Days of Old with Trevor Vaughn, and mixed and mastered with him as well between March and April of this year. The seven-song outing is a vicious 45 minutes of full-breadth riffing and stripped-down, light-on-frills doom. Led by the guitars of Zach Wilding and Jonny Sage, the vocals of Alexander Blackhound take early command of the material as the first half of the album pushes toward the title cut, while bassist Nicholas Arruda plays off Wilding and Sage in Candlemassian form (his shining moment arriving in his leading the band through the 15-minute closer) and drummer Zigmond Coffey adds plod to the nod of their bleak but still engaging groove. Days of Old lacks nothing for atmosphere — each side is given an instrumental introduction of substance, and themes play out in the songs as well — but ultimately, it’s the directness of Balam‘s attack that makes their debut so impressive, as well as the thrust of their tonality and how smoothly they are able to find a niche within the dreary scope of their doom.
There’s much still to take shape before Balam release Days of Old in terms of things like the cover art, what label, and so on, but consider this glimpse at “Days of Old” — and at 11 minutes, it’s a considerable glimpse indeed — an early warning of what the band have in store for the New Year. Here’s hoping the details get sorted soon.
Please enjoy:
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Balam will look to release Days of Old in 2015 through a yet-to-be-determined label. You can keep up with the band’s doings and latest news at the links.
Tags: Balam, Balam Days of Old, Days of Old, Newport, Rhode Island
