Houston, Texas, four-piece Warlung will release their fourth album, Vulture’s Paradise, on Nov. 4 through Heavy Psych Sounds. It is the follow-up to later-2020’s Optical Delusions (review here) and brings nine new cuts that have clearly learned some lessons from that prior outing. “Sky Burial” (video premiering below) serves as the first single from the record, and it seems to push further along the lines of the focus on melody and hookmaking that songs like “Sun Eater” from Optical Delusions wrought, the guitars of George Baba and Philip Bennett harmonizing in readily grandiose fashion as a setup for the harmonized vocals of the chorus, resting easily on the midtempo groove from bassist Chris Tamez and drummer Ethan Tamez, whose flow extends even into the dreamy-vocal pickup prior to the solo as the halfway point leads into the back end of the song.

It’s an easy record to get lost in, or at least it would be if Warlung weren’t such skillful songwriters. Immersion and go-go-go rock and roll play out sans conflict in their sound — they do not come across like they’re competing with each other, but all working together to serve the ends of their songs — and like their work more generally, they make tonal largesse a backdrop across Vulture’s Paradise cuts like the edging-on-doom title-track and the Sabbath-meets-Styx-combo-you-know-you-always-wanted-to-hear “Demonocracy,” which follow ahead of the more direct, urgent riffing of “Return of the Warlords,” calling back to opener “Hypatia” while expanding the palette of the album overall. On that backdrop, they dance the swing of “Grave Marauders” with a pop-derived-but-not-pop ethic of craft, downing shots of ’80s metal with a ’70s rock chaser while eating mushrooms from a future that’s brighter whether they want to admit it or not.

Coming across at the outset of “Hypatia” like an American answer to London’s Green Lung, the sense of control and of the band knowing who they are and what they want to do is writ large over Vulture’s Paradise, and so help me gawd, I’ll give bonus points forever to “Caveman Blues” for the lyrics, “I’m a Stone Age stoner/I hunt and gather shrooms,” as well as for the organ that accompanies the memorable start-stop verse riff and what may or may not’ve been an inadvertent Phil Hartman reference (think ‘Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer’). Because there’s no substitute for stoner charm in heavy rock and roll. The penultimate “Worship the Void” goes deeper into guitar-forward stylization, finding the line between airy stretch-out and terrestrial riffing and then setting up shop there for its catchy four-minute duration, while closer “Runes” seems to start with highway sounds before starting a slow, from-the-ground-up linear build that underscores the melodic purpose throughout the songs prior and the progressivism in terms of arrangement that’s made the record likewise intriguing conceptually and utterly listenable.

At the risk of getting to the point, Warlung sound a like a band ready to make their mark. I don’t know what their tour plans are, even within Texas let alone the rest of the USA or beyond, but the material they present on Vulture’s Paradise is their most accomplished work to-date and deserves as much support as they can give it — something that, of course, couldn’t have happened for Optical Delusions given its timing. It’s a big universe and there are infinite possibilities at any given moment, but if you’re still reading this, I have a hard time imagining Vulture’s Paradise not leaving an impression. They could make a single out of any of its tracks and you wouldn’t call them wrong, but there’s still a flow across the 43-minute entirety that serves them gorgeously in highlighting their chemistry and sonic reach.

To wit as regards that flow, I didn’t even intend to review the album right now. This was a news post when I started out. Here we are. I guess I just got pulled in by Vulture’s Paradise. You should know that might happen.

Enjoy “Sky Burial.” Album preorders are up as of today, as per the PR wire below.

Here goes:

Warlung, “Sky Burial” video premiere

Warlung – Vulture’s Paradise

RELEASE DATE : 4TH NOVEMBER 2022
PRESALE STARTS JULY 27TH

“As our forthcoming record, we knew we had to go big on Vulture’s Paradise,” says the band. “These songs found the perfect balance of a raw, live sound and psychedelia. Though the lyrical themes revolve around death and destruction, the music is more alive and creative than ever.”

WARLUNG is a Texas rock band formed by longtime friends and brothers in 2016. Inspired by the sounds of old, they wrote heavy, catchy songs with a psychedelic twist.

By February 2017, they recorded their debut album, Sleepwalker, which was self-released the following fall. Playing festivals such as End Hip End It Fest and opening for acts like Wo Fat and Dead Meadow, they quickly gained a cult following around Texas. Less than a year later, they entered the studio to record their second album, Immortal Portal, released in February 2019. They continued to host various breweries and festivals like SXSW, and quickly became a fan favorite within the local rock community. Their audience grew as they opened for bands such as High Reeper, Forming the Void and King Buffalo.

In February 2020, they began production on their third album, Optical Delusions. They teamed up with Heavy Psych Sounds to release the new album in October 2020.

AVAILABLE IN:
15 TEST PRESS – 12″ VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD COLOR-IN-COLOR TRANSPARENT / RED SPLATTER BLUE – 12″ VINYL
400 LTD ORANGE – 12″ VINYL
BLACK – 12″ VINYL
DIGIPAK CD 6 PANELS

Tracklisting:
1. Hypatia
2. Sky Burial
3. Vulture’s Paradise
4. Demonocracy
5. Return of the Warlords
6. Grave Marauders
7. Caveman Blues
8. Worship the Void
9. Runes

All music written and performed by WARLUNG.
Recorded by Jacob Rodriguez at King Benny’s House of Sound.
Mixed by Jeff Henson and assisted by Jeff Klein at Red Nova Ranch.
Mastered by Alberto de Icaza.
Artwork by Meike Hakkaart (Art of Maquenda).

Warlung are:
Guitar/vox – George Baba
Guitar /vox – Philip Bennett
Bass – Chris Tamez
Drums – Ethan Tamez

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Tags: Heavy Psych Sounds, Houston, Texas, Vulture's Paradise, Warlung, Warlung Vulture's Paradise

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2022 at 8:51 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.