Kind Premiere “Burn Scar”; Announce Close Encounters Due Aug. 11
Boston’s Kind will release their third album, Close Encounters, this August through Ripple Music. The band — comprised of guitarist Darryl Shepard (ex-Milligram, The Long Wait, Blackwolfgoat, Hackman, etc.), bassist Tom Corino (Rozamov), drummer Matt Couto (ex-Elder) and vocalist Craig Riggs (Roadsaw, also drums for Sasquatch, etc.) — are about as heavy on riffs as they are on pedigree, and having been fortunate enough to have heard the full album at this point I’ll tell you two things about it. First, it’s their best work to-date. Second, if you’re the end-of-year-best-of-list type, you’re going to want to save room. I’ll review the record down the line, but just a heads up. It’s one to keep an ear out for.
Lucky enough, you don’t have to keep that ear out for it for very long since the first single is premiering below. “Burn Scar” doesn’t account for every move the band make on the Alec Rodriguez-recorded offering, which hits hard and stretches out over some pretty vast distances as well, but it’s enough to give you a basic idea of where they’re at in terms of tone and melody, though if you caught 2020’s Mental Nudge (review here) you know they’re not shy about changing things up as they make their way through a collection. I’ll reiterate, Close Encounters is their best record yet, and please know that I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t genuinely believe it. The rest we can handle later.
One note and I’ll let you go. This is the first single from Close Encounters, but it’s not the first track to be released. “Favorite One,” track two of nine, was featured on the Nebula Ripples benefit compilation to support Nebula bassist Tom Davies in his struggle against cancer (on Bandcamp here). Put the two together and you’ve got almost a third of the record to go on already. Not too shabby. That track is also streaming at the bottom of the post, along with a full live set (same show from which the picture above seems to have been taken) from New Hampshire this past December that also has some new material. Because MAXIMALISM.
For now, enjoy “Burn Scar.” Preorder links and PR wire info follow below:
Kind, “Burn Scar” track premiere
Preorder: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/kind-close-encounters
Close Encounters is the third KIND full length, following their debut Rocket Science (2015) and sophomore album Mental Nudge (2020), all released on venerable underground heavy rock label Ripple Music. Once again, KIND recorded with engineer Alec Rodriguez at Mad Oak Studios, and the eye-catching cover art was created by renowned artist Alexander Von Wieding in his lair in Germany. Close Encounters contains nine songs of heavy stoner/doom/psych rock with some additional elements, furthering the scope of KIND’s musical vision. Prog-rock leaning opener “Burn Scar”, the almost-but-not-quite pop of “Snag” and the Krautrock inspired closer “Pacino” bring some variety to the proceedings, with additional percussion, Mellotron and synth blended into the mix.
The locked-in rhythm section of drummer Matt Couto and bassist Tom Corino and the heavy-as-bricks riffing of guitarist Darryl Shepard are topped off with the powerful and melodic vocals of Craig Riggs throughout, creating a cohesive sound regardless of where the band ventures musically. KIND never stray from their mission, which is to write and perform top-shelf heavy rock. Mental Nudge ended up on several year-end best-of lists and topped the Doom Charts in September of 2020. Close Encounters ups the ante in several ways, showing the versatility of these four seasoned musicians who have performed with KIND and previous bands at festivals such as Roadburn, Hellfest, Desertfest and many more. But as the saying goes, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”. The best thing to do is to throw on a copy of Close Encounters and turn the volume way up.
About the album, guitarist Darryl Shepard says: “When we started recording Close Encounters the pandemic was still going on, and then Russia started bombing Ukraine the week before, so the war was just starting and nobody knew what the hell was going to happen with that. Was it going to turn into World War III or something? Nobody knew at that time. And I remember just feeling that everything going on was very heavy and we were in the studio recording while Russia was invading another country and nuclear facilities in Ukraine were burning. All of that definitely seeped into my playing on this album. It was absolutely on my mind, and Alec and I were talking about it while setting up to record. It was definitely a heavy period and I think some of that is in this record.
Album credits:
All songs written & arranged by KIND, copyright 2023 (BMI)
All lyrics by Craig Riggs
Synths – Craig and Darryl
Additional percussion – Craig
Piano – Darryl
Produced by KIND & Alec Rodriguez
Recorded & mixed by Alec Rodriguez
Recorded at Mad Oak Studios, Allston, MA between March and July of 2022
Mixed thereafter by Alec Rodriguez
Mastered by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios
Artwork, layout & logo by Alexander von Wieding, zeichentier.com
KIND lineup:
Tom Corino – Bass
Matt Couto – Drums
Craig Riggs – Vocals
Darryl Shepard – Guitars
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Yeaaaaa Elder is great but this is much better. Their new drummer doesn’t even come close to Matt
Their first album was great. Their second was better. I can see this being best of the year great if they continue that trend. First 2 songs rip. Really looking forward to this.
[…] to Kind’s brand new single »Burn Scar« Also check out debut single »Favorite […]