Later this month, Nashville heavy prog rock trio Howling Giant will head out on a European tour alongside their Philadelphia-based labelmates in Heavy Temple. The tour will precede Howling Giant‘s new album, Glass Future, by nearly a month, as that’s slated for Oct. 27, which both feels far away and will be here before you know it. That’s fortunate, because it’s a record that kind of needs to be heard.

Glass Future is their second record, ostensibly the follow-up to 2019’s The Space Between Worlds (review here), but the richly melodic, sometimes propulsive three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Tom Polzine, drummer/vocalist Zach Wheeler and bassist/vocalist Sebastian Baltes are about more than just full-lengths. In 2020 they participated in Magnetic Eye‘s Dirt [Redux] tribute to Alice in Chains (review here), in 2021 they had the instrumental EP Alteration (review here), the material for which emerged from a series of livestreamed lockdown jams. Later 2021 brought another [Redux], this one for AC/DC, and last year they posted an entirely instrumental version of the first album, seemingly just for the hell of it. In an age of ‘content creation,’ they are not a band who wants for it.

And no question that’s an asset working in their favor. They bust their collective ass putting word out there about themselves. Every post on their Facebook page for the last however long, whatever it is, has their European tour dates with it. They could give lessons in that shit. And we could sit here and whine about why does a band need to do that crap in the first place and what does it have to do with music and blah blah blah Gen-X blah. Fortunately, it’s moot because the songs are there as well, and never more so than on Glass Future. Whether you’re showing up for the Torche-esque brightness of the melodies in the instruments and vocals, or the harmonies in the latter, or the way even a mellower piece like “Aluminum Crown” has some shove by the time it’s done, the progressive flourish and thoughtfulness of their craft, or the hooks — god damn, the hooks — of cuts like “Siren Song,” “Hawk in a Hurricane,” “Sunken City,” “Juggernaut,” the maybe-Twilight Zone referencing closer “There’s Time Now” (the repeated line: “It’s the end of the world” bringing Burgess Meredith’s glasses to mind). As an entire work, it is impeccably done but not porcelain or brittle. It both takes and provides bumps, movement. It runs from the outset of “Siren Song,” isn’t afraid of double-kick in “Hawk in a Hurricane” or the ambient drone that follows the ending of the song proper, and uses the sample in “First Blood of Melchor” to launch a metal-as-rock organ-laced instrumental crashfest.

It’s an adventure of an album, and one that, when I started this post, I didn’t want to review. So I guess I’d better leave it there, because I can see where this is going and Glass Future isn’t out for nearly another two months. But if you haven’t yet gotten on board for this one, the video for “Aluminum Crown” — reportedly filmed in a living room — is as good an occasion as any. You’ll find it accompanied by the above-mentioned tour dates, which include stops at Up in Smoke, Into the Void Leeuwarden, Keep it Low, and of course, Desertfest Belgium 2023. No doubt Howling Giant will win friends at all of them and more.

From social media:

Howling Giant, “Aluminum Crown” official video

3D and VFX by Polar Desert Studios
YouTube, Instagram, Twitter: @thepolardesert

Aluminum Crown is out today on all streaming services! Smash the link in our down-yonder-ways to check out the accompanying music video by the powerful wizard Polar Desert Studios!

Preorder worldwide: en.spkr.media
Preorder US/Canada: us.spkr.media

Osnabrück and Paris added to the EU tour with Heavy Temple! Dates below, check em out!

29 SEP 2023 Pratteln (CH) Z7, Up in Smoke Festival
30 SEP 2023 Leeuwarden (NL) Neushoorn, Into the Void Festival
01 OCT Osnabrück (DE) Bastard
02 OCT 2023 Siegen (DE) Vortex
03 OCT 2023 Hamburg (DE) Hafenklang
04 OCT 2023 Jena (DE) Rosenkeller
05 OCT 2023 Kassel (DE) Goldgrube
07 OCT 2023 Munich (DE) Backstage, Keep It Low Festival 2023
09 OCT 2023 Budapest (HU) Robot
10 OCT 2023 Vienna (AT) Arena
11 OCT 2023 Bologna (IT) Freak Out
12 OCT 2023 Milano (IT) Barrios
13 OCT 2023 Roma (IT) RCCB
14 OCT 2023 Viareggio (IT) Circolo ARCI GoB
15 OCT 2023 Carmagnola (IT) Circolo ARCI Margot
18 OCT 2023 San Sebastian (ES) Dabadaba
19 OCT 2023 Barcelona (ES) Razz3
20 OCT 2023 Paris (FR) Glazart
22 OCT 2023 Antwerp (BE) Trix, Desertfest Belgium

HOWLING GIANT is
Tom Polzine – Guitar and Vocals
Zach Wheeler – Drums and Vocals
Sebastian Baltes – Bass and Vocals

Howling Giant, “Glass Future” official video

Howling Giant, Glass Future (2023)

Howling Giant on Facebook

Howling Giant on Instagram

Howling Giant on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings on Facebook

Blues Funeral Recordings on Instagram

Blues Funeral Recordings on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings website

Tags: Glass Future, Howling Giant, Howling Giant Glass Future, Magnetic Eye Records, Nashville, Tennessee

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 7th, 2023 at 11:12 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.