Owls & Eagles Premiere “Enlightenment” From Debut Album Patience Vol. 1
Calgary-based sludge rockers Owls and Eagles will make their debut on June 1 through Moments Records with the narrative album, Patience Vol. 1. You’ll find the first single from the record, “Enlightenment,” streaming on the Bandcamp embed below, and if you want to skip over the rest of my blah blah and just hit up the audio, I won’t be offended. I get it.
For those sticking around, a bit of context. Owls and Eagles is comprised of vocalist/drummer Mark Russell and guitarist/vocalist Ross Ferguson. Russell is the founding frontman of the crossover hardcore outfit Citizen Rage, whose latest EP, called simply Black EP and the band’s sixth such short release named for a color — in 2017, they put out five of them: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and Pink — was issued in 2020. Making his first appearance in Citizen Rage on Pink was Ferguson. And he wasn’t the only swap-out in the band during those years either.
Now, Citizen Rage are still active — they’ll play 2023’s The Electric Highway festival 
alongside Sasquatch, Black Mastiff, La Chinga, and others. Indeed, Owls & Eagles will play as well. All of this is to tell you that it’s probably fair to call Owls and Eagles a side-project, but as “Enlightenment” informs, it’s more than enough of a stylistic turn from the other band to make sense as its own thing. The six-minute-long track starts minimal and slow, a creeping intro with vague echoing whispers spoken over, unveiling its crunch-toned nod of a groove at 1:19 with a riff that reads like a declarative sentence. It comes on, sets up shop, and the roll it begins holds for the duration.
Russell and Ferguson share vocals in the verses and chorus, complementing each other not so much in harmony or direct call and response, but in dueling shouts into the proverbial void that remind a bit of Sweden’s Cities of Mars if more prone to a bit of barking by the finish. Their two-piece configuration gives an edge of rawness to their sound — producer Jamie Kovalsky at Prohibitor Studios also helmed Citizen Rage‘s Black, so there’s another thread linking the two bands — but that suits the sludgier vibe well and the echo on the vocals allows a sense of room to permeate just the same. It’s not a huge giant lumber, but neither is it in any danger of not getting the point across.
I haven’t heard all of Patience Vol. 1 as yet and honestly I don’t even know if it’s done, but “Enlightenment” came my way and I dug the groove and thought you might too. Simple as that. You’ll find the song and a bit more about it from the band below. Hope you enjoy:
Owls & Eagles on “Enlightenment”:
Our story starts with Patience realizing her home has become poisoned by hate, greed, and corruption. She makes a choice; she chooses to leave this place she has called home since birth. For once in her life, she sees everyone for who they really are, liars, cheaters, destroyers, killers of the land, pure evil at its fullest. She leaves and never turns back.
Produced and engineered by Jamie K at Prohibitor Studios Calgary. Artwork by Tannis Paige. Scheduled to release June 1st 2023 on Moments Records.
Owls & Eagles are:
Ross Ferguson – Guitar/Vocals
Mark Russell – Drums/Vocals
These guys are deadly cant wait to see and hear more
[…] Owls & Eagles, a two-piece psychedelic doom band from Calgary Alberta annouce their debut album »Patience Vol. 1« and release the first single from the album called »Enlightenment«. The track recently premiered via The Obelisk and the feature can be found here! […]