Rwake Announce The Return of Magik Out March 14; Title-Track Video Posted
Don’t get so lost in the 12 minutes of Rwake‘s new single that you don’t realize the act of world-creation happening around you atmospherically, because The Return of Magik — which is the Little Rock, Arkansas, outfit’s first long-player since 2011’s Rest (review here) dwells in the sinister spirituality one can hear manifest in the title-track. The interweaving of vocalists CT and Brittany remains singularly vicious, and the former’s semi-spoken litany in the midsection of “The Return of Magik” is righteously weird and correspondingly from the heart. Rwake have never been about catchy hooks or fodder for light-listening. “The Return of Magik” asks you to immerse accordingly.
I was fortunate enough in December to do some bio writing for the album. Some of that appears below — “Years have now…,” the part about Austin Sublett and the paragraph after — which is neat if you happen to be me, but the real crux here is the song itself, which lays out a scope and vibe that really is Rwake‘s own, however one might align them to post-sludge or another niche of the like. Extreme swamp doom mysticism? Eventually, you keep paring down elements, and Rwake are just Rwake.
The PR wire gives it back thusly:
RWAKE To Release First New Album In Over 13 Years, The Return Of Magik, On March 14th Via Relapse Records; New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available
Watch/stream RWAKE’s “The Return Of Magik” HERE: https://orcd.co/rwake
After thirteen years of silence, an unsettling sound that is strangely familiar yet somehow even more haunted re-emerges from the Arkansas depths. There is no mistake as to what this is. RWAKE has released a new transmission. The Return Of Magik, set for release on March 14th via Relapse Records, has arrived.
Years have now fed into an album that reaches into a swirling, cosmic unknown – RWAKE has grown, and the perspective of the material has shifted accordingly. Overwhelming at its peak and haunting during moments of respite, The Return Of Magik is undeniably RWAKE. Every movement feels like an emotionally engrossing journey. Arrangements carefully and thoughtfully built in layers over a period of years lend mystique and a feeling of building toward a cathartic release. There is no box into which the material might fit other than one with the band’s name on it.
Today, the band shares the official video for the album’s title track.
Watch RWAKE’s “The Return Of Magik” video, directed by Nouvel Photo & Film, on YouTube HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_UhRDLZRI Stream the track HERE: https://orcd.co/rwake
The Return Of Magik will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find preorders at Relapse.com HERE.
The Return Of Magik Track Listing:
1. You Swore We’d Always Be Together
2. The Return Of Magik
3. With Stardust Flowers
4. Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration
5. In After Reverse
6. Φ
Additionally, RWAKE has announced their first shows of 2025 around the release of The Return Of Magik including a hometown release show on March 15th.
RWAKE Live:
3/14/2025 Eastside Bowl – Nashville, TN
3/15/2025 Rev Room – Little Rock, AR * Record Release Show
4/11/2025 Bear’s – Shreveport, LA
4/12/2025 Siberia – New Orleans, LA
Recorded in early 2024 at East End Sounds in Hensley, Arkansas, The Return Of Magik introduces RWAKE’s new lead guitarist Austin Sublett with a barrage of shredded solos suited to the angular, progressive metal riffing of the album’s most jaw-clenching moments, while presenting a through-line of molten, immersive ambience. The opener “You Swore We’d Always Be Together” – already a fixture of live sets – and the expansive sprawl of “Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration” move with cruelty and grace alike. Foreboding, syncopated riffs sway against Moog-driven space and guttural bellows. The Return Of Magik’s songs stand alone as individualized post-metallic blends of genres.
RWAKE remains dually fronted; Chris Terry’s powerful vocals lay against Brittany Fugate’s visceral screams. Jeff Morgan returns to the drum kit, in addition to acoustic guitar and 12-string bass. Bassist/noisemaker Reid Raley, Sublett, and fellow guitarist John Judkins set an instrumental backdrop that is vast and engrossing in itself – quiet, contemplative passages often explode into gut-wrenching, doomed out distortions. The Return Of Magik, which features artwork by Loni Gillum of Minerva’s Menagerie and RWAKE, burns brighter and beyond the ferocity of the band’s already storied catalog.
Although the Magik may be bleak, the manner in which RWAKE revels in it can only be called a celebration.
RWAKE:
C.T. – vocals, words, theme
Reid – bass guitars, distortion
John – guitars, lap + pedal steel, 12-string bass
Austin – guitars
Brittany – energy peddler, keys and a microphone
Jeff – drums, acoustic guitar, 12-string bass
* “…Psychedelic Incarceration” written and spoken by Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, February 17th, 2024 in Black Oak, Arkansas.
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