https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Akula Self-Titled LP out This Week on Hellmistress Records

akula

Ohio-based post-metal-tinged progressive heavy rockers Akula self-released their self-titled debut (discussed here) in the early hours of 2018, right about the time everyone’s New Year’s headaches were dissipating and it was time to get back to real life. The four-track outing arrived without much fanfare, which was true enough to the motivations behind its making — basically the players involved wanted to do a thing and they did it — but it doesn’t take much more than one listen, if that, to realize the thing deserves a place in physical reality. Hellmistress Records has stepped up to bring Akula‘s Akula into the third dimension and will have the record out later this week on limited 12″ vinyl and ye olde compact disc for those of us without an entire wing of the house to dedicate to our sprawling collections.

As it happens, I wrote the bio that’s included in the press release below (paragraph starting “Comprised of…” and ending with the sentence “It could take them…”), but with the issue-date fast approaching and obviously my thinking the album’s worth your time anyhow, what with the interview linked above, it seems only fair to mark the occasion, which the PR wire facilitates thusly:

akula akula

AKULA: Ohio-Based Progressive/Psychedelic Heavy Rock Collective Featuring Members Of Lo-Pan To Release Self-Titled Debut Via Hellmistress Records; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available

Ohio-Based progressive/psychedelic heavy rock collective AKULA — featuring within its ranks members of Lo-Pan — will release its self-titled debut September 28th via Hellmistress Records.

Comprised of four immersive tracks weighted as much in tone as emotional resonance, AKULA runs an atmospheric gamut led by the undulating and spacious riffing of guitarist Chris Thompson and Sergei Parfenov and the soulful melodies of vocalist Jeff Martin.

Martin is best known for his work in heavy rock unit Lo-Pan, but in the four songs of AKULA’s self-titled debut, he, Parfenov, Thompson (also now in Lo-Pan), bassist Scott Hyatt, and drummer Ronnie Miller hone an ambience that erases the line between progressive heavy rock and post-metal, capturing a vast reach on opener “A Pound Of Flesh” and holding it for the duration of the churning and memorable “Force Me Open,” the later crush in “Born Of Fire” and the consuming march that bookends twelve-minute closer “Predators.”

“I was feeling an overabundance of creative energy,” Martin explains. “I had been listening to a lot of heavier psychedelic stuff in the vein of YOB, Neurosis, and even some Mastodon. I knew Chris could do pretty much anything from seeing him play. I contacted him and asked if he would be interested in getting some people together for a purely fun project. He was all for it. I told him what I was thinking in terms of style and he said he actually already had some part ideas he had been messing around with that might be a fit.

“We talked about bass players and drummers and rhythm guitarists and invited some guys to meet up and discuss,” he continues. “And stylistically, everyone seemed to understand what we were looking for: a darker, heavier psychedelic sound with melodic vocals. Longer format and prog shifts seemed like a natural thing for everyone. So we got to work.”

The result of that work is as stylistically ambitious for AKULA as it is engaging for the listener, and the balance they strike belies the notion of Akula being their first full-length. Now aligned with Hellmistress Records for a physical release of the previously digital-only tracks, AKULA begins a larger exploration of sound with that same restlessness. It could take them just about anywhere.

Akula will be available on CD and limited-edition vinyl in three color variants – 150 baby blue/ opaque yellow/white bleed, 175 heavy orange splatter on translucent green, and 175 on translucent blue. For vinyl preorders, visit Hellmistress Records at THIS LOCATION. For CD orders go HERE.

Akula Track Listing:
1. A Pound Of Flesh
2. Force Me Open
3. Born Of Fire
4. Predators

http://www.facebook.com/akulaband/
https://akulaband.bandcamp.com/
http://hellmistressrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/hellmistressrecords
http://twitter.com/hellmistressrec
http://www.instagram.com/hellmistressrecords

Akula, Akula (2018)

Tags: , , , , ,

Leave a Reply