Conan Sign to Heavy Psych Sounds; New Album Spring 2025
I’ll spare you a lot of flowery band-I-like verbiage. If you’re desperate to know where I think Conan stand as they join and strengthen Heavy Psych Sounds‘s roster of acts, there’s a bio I wrote right down there in blue where it says “biography” in all-caps. I even signed it, which I don’t always do. So there you go.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking Conan signing to Heavy Psych Sounds for not one but two albums isn’t a big deal, because it is. For Conan, it marks the end of their stretch with Napalm Records, which handled all their studio work since 2014’s Blood Eagle (review here) came out on the short-lived Spinning Goblin Records heavy imprint. And just in case you, like me, live in a bubble outside normal space-time (which sounds great but you age faster and are always tired; shitty bubble), 2014 was 10 years ago.
While it’s not the first time Conan and Heavy Psych Sounds have collaborated — Conan appeared on the label’s first Doom Sessions split in 2020, sharing LP space with Deadsmoke — it demonstrates just how far the Italian purveyor has come as the heavy underground’s foremost outlet worldwide. Conan likely could’ve gone just about anywhere. They’re one of the best and most recognized bands of their generation and they never stop touring and now they have bonus-extra noise metal cred with David Ryley (formerly of Fudge Tunnel) taking up bass duties in the rhythm section alongside drummer Johnny King and founding guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis.
Conan offered the three-songer DIY Series, Issue 1 10″ EP earlier this year, and they’re set to follow it with a full-length in Spring 2025 according to the below. I’ll be curious to hear how they follow 2022’s Evidence of Immortality (review here), which brought a delve into ambient noise to go with their all-crushing root ethic and was their last record with likely-still-gonna-produce bassist Chris Fielding in the band. You can bet they’ll be on the road for that as well.
Well, so much for sparing the verbiage. Onward, to death and the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to present a NEW BAND signing *** CONAN ***
– UK doom wizards signed for two new albums –
We’re incredibly stoked to announce that the UK doom wizards CONAN are now part of the Heavy Psych Sounds Family !!!
The band has signed for TWO NEW ALBUMS, first one will see the light in Spring 2025.
SAYS THE BAND:
“We are delighted to announce we will release our next album on Heavy Psych Sounds. We have watched the label grow in both size and stature, and watched awesome bands join, and we feel that now is the right time to join too. Gabe and the team have a hands-on approach with appeals to us, and we’re excited to explore this new relationship.”
BIOGRAPHY
Conan’s doom is singular. Carved of granite. Yes, of course there’ve been changes since guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis founded the group in 2006, but the intention at the time toward superlative heavy – tonal extremity wrought with impressionist lyrics stripping ideas to the core where sometimes the whole line is just one word; they’ve always called it “Caveman Battle Doom” – remains at the root of everything they’ve done since. And across five studio records in the decade from 2012-2022, Conan have set the standard by which much of “heavy” anything is judged. And in comparison, most is found wanting.
But for every time you’ve heard about Conan’s music being like galloping steeds or frost-covered sharp-peaked mountains, etc., imagery of largesse and violence, the truth is Conan are an exercise in frequency. It’s the low resonance that shakes your chest, the depth of the bass – now handled by David Ryley (ex-Fudge Tunnel) – the push of air from Johnny King’s kick drum, or the way the dark-fuzz distortion of Davis’ guitar is offset by shouting vocals cutting through that sometimes punishing onslaught, rarely to offer comfort so much as add viciousness to the crash, plod and pillage.
In 2024, Conan sign to Heavy Psych Sounds as a recognized name and one of the foremost acts of their generation, wildly influential in their home country of the UK and well beyond; headliners in practice and theory alike. Their fifth LP, 2022’s ‘Evidence of Immortality,’ brought a dark ambience to coincide with its outright attack. With experiments in darkwave and synth adding breadth to the stated root purpose of aural force, it’s never been harder to guess where the next few years might take their sound, but whatever’s coming, Conan will make it kill. The better part of two decades later, their reliability remains unshakable. Which you want when your band is so heavy that the floor and your ribcage both start to vibrate. – JJ Koczan / June 2024
CONAN is
Jon Davis – Vocals/Guitars
Johnny King – Drums
David Ryley – Bass
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https://conan-conan.bandcamp.com/
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heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
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