Obelyskkh Announce The Ultimate Grace of God Due Jan. 27
You know, for some reason, I can never seem to spell Obelyskkh‘s name right. I guess when you get used to typing a certain word a certain way for so long, it’s just where your brain goes. But Germany’s Obelyskkh are consistently worth the effort of spelling their moniker correctly. Their last album, 2017’s The Providence (review here), was an otherworldly ripper, and it would seem the consciousness-shredding intention continues to hold sway over the impending The Ultimate Grace of God. There isn’t a track streaming yet, and I suspect that after you watch the teaser trailer for the album below — which starts, suitably enough, with a line of cocaine — you’ll share my opinion that that’s a bummer, because the swirling malevolent sludge doom this band conjures is likewise distinctive and disturbing. Righteously so. I’m gonna see if I can line up a single premiere ahead of the release — you never know if you don’t ask — but in the meantime, check out the album info, the killer AI cover art, and the teaser below.
By the way, about the art: I’d be genuinely surprised if we don’t see a lot of AI-born covers coming down the line in 2023 and maybe beyond. If you can get a look like this, why wouldn’t you? And if you don’t think that AI art is art, then AI art has made you feel something and form an opinion, and therefore it is art. If you disagree, it just proves it more. See also Marcel Duchamp and all those blank canvases at the Guggenheim.
From the PR wire:
OBELYSKKH: German Psychedelic Sludge Metal Trio To Release Fifth LP, The Ultimate Grace Of God, Via Exile On Mainstream Records In January; Cover Art, Teaser, Preorders, And More Posted
German psychedelic doom/sludge metal goliath OBELYSKKH returns with their fifth album, and first in over five years, with The Ultimate Grace Of God. The band’s long-running allies at Exile On Mainstream will release the album worldwide on January 27th, today unveiling the record’s cover art, track listing, preorders, a brief teaser, and more.
Having remained quiet in recent years, OBELYSKKH celebrated a brilliant return at the South Of Mainstream Festival in September 2022. The show, which consisted only of new material, already showed clearly where the sonic journey is going: the psychedelic elements fade into the background and make way for increased pressure and a furious reckoning with noise and slamming riffs, focused, direct, and without frills. The Ultimate Grace Of God is a child of the times and its challenges, whose story began in April 2017 with a walk through Antwerp: In the middle of an uninviting district with cold-looking apartment blocks, there is an unassuming, run-down hair salon with the words “THE ULTIMATE GRACE OF GOD” emblazoned across the shop window. The idea for the next OBELYSKKH album was born. At the time, no one could have guessed that it would take almost five years from then until the idea for a physical release was implemented.
When their second guitarist left right before the release of their prior album, The Providence, OBELYSKKH had to restructure. They remembered the punk attitude of the early days and decided to pick it up again as a classic bass/guitar/drums power trio. Influences from old noise heroes such as KARP, Todd, Jesus Lizard, and the Melvins became more noticeable when writing the new songs and they were written just as quickly as they were direct. A studio was found. A test recording by Moe Waldmann and Seeb Gerischer in the lovingly furnished Mach Ma Mecker recording studio in the remote solitude of the Franconian town of Breitengüßbach convinced everyone involved. Rosy future. New album almost in the can. It could start.
Then, Corona hit… Several studio dates were repeatedly postponed due to contact bans, until a small Summer gap finally opened. In a week, OBELYSKKH pounded The Ultimate Grace Of God in, live and raw – a few overdubs here and there, followed by gorgeous mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Studios the beast was done and waiting to be released. The cover art was created by an AI, fed with keywords from the OBELYSKKH lyrics, and the beast was done and waiting to be released. But Corona was still there. A year passed and the album was gathering dust in a drawer. Then came the energy crisis. Then came inflation. The beer got so expensive that there was no money left to finish the album. And in no time at all it was 2022.
But what underlies through it all: the OBELYSKKH crew is tough, just like the music: a loud, angry hunk of noise. And despite all the crises, the hair salon in Antwerp is still styling.
The Ultimate Grace of God will be released on January 27th as a bundle of LP and CD as well as digitally. The CD and digital contain two additional bonus tracks. The CD is included with the LP; there is no separate CD release. Find preorders at the label webshop HERE: https://shop.mainstreamrecords.de/product/eom104
The Ultimate Grace Of God Track Listing:
1. Aquaveil
2. The Ultimate Grace Of God
3. Black Mother
4. Afterlife
5. Universal Goddess
6. Dog Headed God
7. Sat Nam (Vision)
OBELYSKKH:
Steve Paradise – drums
Crazy Woitek – guitars, vocals
Seb Duster – bass
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