The Angelus Premiere “Hex Born”; Why We Never Die out Aug. 20
The Angelus make their label debut for Desert Records on Aug. 20 with their third album, Why We Never Die. It is perhaps an unfortunate outing, monetarily, since for anyone not previously familiar with the band’s work, it just might make one inclined to buy everything they’ve done to-date. Heavy Western vibes pervade the Dollars-trilogy-esque bells of the introductory “Honor to Feasts,” and that two-minute preliminary is followed immediately by the bluesier fuzz of “Hex Born,” of a spiritual kinship somehow to the likes of All Them Witches, latter-day Greenleaf, harmony-laced Wovenhand‘s tense rhythm changes, Lord Buffalo and others while working with their own carefully carved identity. They make fitting labelmates to Cortége in mood (also those bells), and though their arrangements have been stripped down somewhat since their string-laced 2011 debut, On a Dark and Barren Land, and the choruses in “Hex Born” and the subsequent “Ode to None” are hooks enough to set a tone of songcraft-focus for everything that follows, the Dallas trio led by guitarist/vocalist Emil Rapstine with Justin Evans on drums/backing vocals and Justin Ward on bass, are not at all without subtlety either in presentation or aesthetic. Earthy psychedelia pervades as Why We Never Die moves deeper into its ultra-manageable 34-minute procession, but The Angelus never grow so ethereal as to forget to bring their audience along.
“Ode to None” in particular has the feeling of a landmark in its position backing “Honor to Feasts” and “Hex Born” with a longer runtime and a more patient feel. The following “Of Ashen Air” is suitably floating in its midsection vocals and brings fluid forward motion
in the drums, less lush than the song before it, but flowing easily enough from one to the other. Momentum is already on The Angelus‘ side as the first half of Why We Never Die careens ahead, never really bursting out with energy or pushing over the top, but not at all staid in its delivery either. Both “Of Ashen Air” and the more shimmer-and-crash-prone heavy post-rock of “When the Hour is Right” hold to the central atmosphere, which is not necessarily paramount — that’s songwriting and performance, as regards priorities — but always there in terms of the backdrop on which the action of the songs takes place; a stretched out Western landscape, breeze blown and looming, maybe threatening. The quicker “Another Kind” sneaks in post-industrial electronics ahead of its satisfyingly thickened payoff, leading into the seven-minute title-track, the arrival of which feels no less momentous than that of “There Will Be No Peace” on the 2017 sophomore LP of the same name, despite the fact that the intro didn’t reference it specifically. Harmonies and instrumental dynamics alike serve as strengths alongside old-timey phrasing in the lyrics, as heard when the instruments drop out behind the vocals after four minutes in, the melody quickly setting up the building triumph that follows. This is considered, progressive movement in craft, but the mood behind it feels real.
Along with a looped-seeming fuzzy guitar line that borders on techno, the outro “Hustle the Sluggard” provides closing Morricone-ism to bookend that of “Honor to Feasts,” right down to a moment of military snare drum, as the album carries to its finish. It is a last reminder of the coherence at work in The Angelus‘ material, pushing forward even as they move farther out from the place they were as a unit. This is bolstered by a smoothness of the production and a balance of mix brings perfect emphasis on the shifting balance of melody and heft throughout. Why We Never Die is impeccable in its realization, but it does not come across as forced even in its most nuanced reaches.
On the player below, you can stream the premiere of “Hex Born.” Rapstine, also of Dead to a Dying World, offers some comment on the track, and more PR wire info follows.
Please enjoy:
Emil Rapstine on “Hex Born”:
Death and rock & roll, rock & roll and death. Hex Born was one of the first songs I started working on for “Why We Never Die” and the first I finished the lyrics for. Those lyrics would set the theme and tone for the rest of the record.
“The curse is spoken, cast down to me.
The spell remains unbroken, calling out forever unto thee.”The curse mentioned is one shared by all humanity and one handed down from generation to generation. A curse to die. The unbroken spell is the music we summon up, an eternal current we connect to to find meaning, and one that will ring out long after we are gone.
“Come lay your head beneath this heavy stone, come carve your given name.
We’ll save you a space, where we’re dreaming no more, with the waking and the slain”As we leave this world we mark our place with headstones and engravings for others to remember us by. Music can also serve this purpose, creating a record and space for the world to remember our hopes and desires and in a way letting us live forever.
In a dim world, with death our only guarantee, The Angelus returns with their third full-length offering ‘Why We Never Die’. An album full of songs both powerfully engulfing and mesmerizingly intimate, the album’s title alludes to one’s constant rebirth through the creation of music and to the band’s hope to transcend the impending eventuality of death when all that remains is the music, and art becomes artifact. The cover art, featuring a highly stylized rendering of a white peacock resembling the traditional description of the phoenix, reinforces the hope that rebirth through creation allows us to live forever in the material world. The Dallas, Texas trio consists of Emil Rapstine (Dead To A Dying World) on guitar and vocals, accompanied by his stalwart co-conspirator Justin Evans on drums and backing vocals, and their newest accomplice Justin Ward on bass. The album, saturated with plaintive, intoning, and harmonizing vocals, despairing lyrics and darkly droning guitar, draws from post-rock, doom, folk, and dark psychedelic rock. The pleading voices and resounding chords here do not decay because they belong to any ears open to hear them as they reverberate for eternity.
Tracklist:
Honor To Feasts
Hex Born
Ode To None
Of Ashen Air
When The Hour Is Right
Another Kind
Why We Never Die
Hustle The Sluggard
“Why We Never Die” was recorded by Alex Bhore (formerly of This Will Destroy You) in Dallas, TX at Elmwood Recording, which belongs to Grammy Award winning producer John Congleton (SWANS, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent, Angel Olsen). The album was mastered by Sarah Register (Protomartyr, Horse Lords, Lower Dens).
The Angelus: Emil Rapstine (guitar, vocals), Justin Evans (drums, vocals), and Justin Ward (bass)
Tags: Dallas, Desert Records, Texas, The Angelus, The Angelus Why We Never Die, Why We Never Die
Really, really looking forward to this release.