Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree to Release Aion Aug. 18; Streaming “Divergence”
After announcing they’d signed to Magnetic Eye Records last week, Stuttgart atmospheric heavy rockers Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree have posted the song “Divergence” as the first single from their upcoming label-debut and third album overall, Aion. The track, which hints at bees in a drone of what’s either guitar effects or synth, runs seven minutes flat and is a spacious psychedelic delve, weighted as one would hope but maybe even more about reach than largesse. It follows their 2022 live album, Harvestmen (Live) (discussed here) and 2019’s Grandmother (review here), which makes the four years since its release feel long.
This year has had a glut of rad offerings from all over and in a wide range of styles, and with their cumbersome moniker and atmospheric approach, Bees Made Honey in the Vein Tree are more contemplative than immediate, as “Divergence” shows. It is my hope that they don’t fall under listeners’ radars with the upcoming LP when it’s so easy to be distracted by the next thing. Their music to-date, including the new single with its ambulances-going-by evocation — I live by a county road and recall vividly the regularity of passing sirens a couple Springs ago; doppler effect on your soul — has been a place to dwell. It’s worth taking the time to do that.
So slow down, and dig in. From Bandcamp:
BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE – Aion
Although water seems permeable and supple, it can become vicious and brutal in an instant. As such, water is the perfect elemental theme for “Aion”, the third album of German psychedelic doom contenders BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE. Lyrically, water is present on “Aion” both for its life-giving quality but also its darker and more ominous side. Musically, BEES MADE HONEY deliver spacious, dynamic compositions that move from drifting tranquility to raging power. A constant tidal movement of ebb and flow translates into spaced-out guitars, pounding bass-lines, and dripping drum-fills, crowned by echoing clean vocals.
The album title derives from the Greek word ἀιών (aiṓn), which translates as ‘eternity’ and has come to denote ‘ages’ in the English word ‘aeon’. BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE were founded in the German city of Stuttgart in 2014. With all four members having grown up together since childhood and coming from an academic background, the band had a clearly defined goal right from the start: to contrast crushing doom metal riffs with the spheric sounds of post- and psychedelic rock.
BEES MADE HONEY laid down their musical template with the debut album “Medicine” in 2017, which provided the solid foundation of their ever-evolving sound. Their sophomore full-length “Grandmother” (2019) expanded the sonic horizon through lower tuning, densely layered effects, faster passages, and harder vocals. The Germans also started performing live at home and abroad to continuously growing audiences, which led to the recording and release of “Harvestmen (live)” in 2022. It is time to set sails and glide over the endless seas of time that BEES MADE HONEY IN THE VEIN TREE create on “Aion” for a glimpse of sparkling sonic stars and the beauty of eternity.
Tracklisting:
1. Aion
2. Divergence
3. Threatening
4. Consonance
5. Courtyard
6. Excavation
7. Scouring the Land
8. Grey Wels
Line-up
Simon Weinrich – guitar, synth, vocals
Marc Dreher – drums, vocals
Lucas Dreher – guitar
Christopher Popowitsch – bass
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