Posted in Whathaveyou on August 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
You know what? I’d really like to see this band. Like, right now, for this record. I have no idea if their touring plans would ever bring them to the Eastern Seaboard, but listening back to their 2022 third album, Psychic Forms (review here), I sure wouldn’t argue against showing up if they did. I guess something like the Fire in the Mountains fest is ideal for their sound, but honestly, I’d take it as it comes. Happy to make my own ritual out of whatever show I’m lucky enough to see.
Maybe I’ll run into them somewhere, sometime, ever, but they’ve got three killer records to their credit now, so hell yes. Show up to that show and maybe they’ll tour more. Don’t make me book a thing. Nobody wants that, me least of all.
From the PR wire:
EALDOR BEALU Announce Upcoming Southwest US Tour In Support Of The New Album Psychic Forms
EALDOR BEALU is a progressive stoner rock quartet from the high desert of Boise, ID. With a focus on shifting dynamics from the ambient to the massive and back again, their sound expands beyond the boundaries of genre to create a mosaic of sonic praise. EALDOR BEALU are preparing to embark on their Southwest US tour this Autumn.
The band comments:
“We’re thrilled to announce our upcoming 2022 Southwest US Tour in support of our new record Psychic Forms, out on vinyl/cd/digital via Metal Assault Records! We’ll be hitting a ton of new cities on this run, and can’t wait to venture west for shows with GREEN DRUID, TEMPTRESS, DESTROYER OF LIGHT, and tons of other killer bands!”
The band’s first full-length offering Dark Water At The Foot Of The Mountain (Independent 2017) drew local, regional, and even international praise as a standout debut offering. With the release of EALDOR BEALU’s sophomore full-length album Spirit Of The Lonely Places on July 20th 2019 on vinyl/digital the band has seen new levels of success around the globe. The band took a step further in that direction, with the signing to Metal Assault Records in July 2021. The signing announcement was accompanied by the label immediately issuing Spirit Of The Lonely Places on CD.
EALDOR BEALU made a successful appearance at Treefort Music Fest in their hometown in March 2022, and shortly after, on April 22 2022, the band released their third full-length studio album, Psychic Forms, via Metal Assault Records, on digital, CD and vinyl.
Psychic Forms is streaming on all digital platforms, and is available for purchase on digital download, CD and vinyl formats via ealdorbealu.bandcamp.com.
Tour Dates:
10.6 Pocatello, ID SIXES 10.7 Denver, CO HI-DIVE (with Green Druid) 10.8 Wichita, KS Barleycorn’s 10.9 Dallas, TX RUINS (with Megafauna and Temptress) 10.10 Austin, TX Sagebrush (with Destroyer of Light) 10.11 San Angelo, TX The Dead Horse 10.12 El Paso, TX The Rockhouse 10.13 Albuquerque, NM Moonlight Lounge 10.14 Phoenix, AZ Yucca Tap Room 10.15 Las Vegas, NV The Usual Place
Festival Appearances:
August 27 Crucial Fest 2022 Salt Lake City, UT Metro Music Hall with MIZMOR, MARISSA NADLER, THE OTOLITH, and more
September 23-25 Flipside Fest 2022 Garden City, ID
EALDOR BEALU is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Michael Mulcock: Drums
Ealdor Bealu release their third full-length, Psychic Forms, April 22 as their first offering through Metal Assault Records. The still above comes from one of the very last shots from the band’s video for album-closer “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” which you can see premiering below, and while certainly the image of guitarist/vocalist Carson Russell (also of Ghorot) holding a sign that reads ‘the end is nigh’ is relevant to the storyline that accompanies the eight-minute track, if you want to get a real sense of where the band are coming from in terms of style and message, look at those fucking mountains behind him. They’re way up, out of town, high Rocky Mountains, their points looming, present even at a distance. If you want to hear those mountains beckoning, Ealdor Bealu — Russell, bassist/vocalist Rylie Collingwood, guitarist/vocalist Travis X. Abbott (also Sawtooth Monk) and new drummer Michael Mulcock — do a pretty good job of translation across the fluidly executed and at times surprisingly lush five songs and 40 minutes that comprise Psychic Forms. They are the very definition of the earthy ethereal. Mountain pastoralism. And they’re not hiding it. It’s right there on the album cover.
Psychic Forms follows three years after 2019’s Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here), and is in some ways less up front about its sense of communion, but as opener and longest track (immediate points) “Be Ye Gone” unfurls with a multi-tiered progression of acoustic and electric guitar and adds vocals not so much to beat the listener over the head with verses and hooks, but to add to the atmosphere, it proves to be Ealdor Bealu‘s most expansive production to-date, reaching outward in ways that the prior release seemed to turn its meditative crux inward. No complaints with that offering, or 2017’s Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain (review here) for that matter, but Psychic Forms works smoothly to convey high-altitude warmth, the crispness of the guitar evocative of a light breeze, the thoughtful changes and shifts progressive in tone and structure, moving into a solo-topped heavier push that comes together to remind just a bit of Valley of the Sun‘s “Riding the Dunes” in its rhythmic urgency. Given the span of time between Ealdor Bealu‘s second album and the third, one wonders if there isn’t an escapist impulse playing out in the material as well.
The video for “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” which is the second single from Psychic Forms behind the opener, nods in its narrative to escapism as well, with the band as a supporting cast. Fair enough, frankly. Though like “Fade into Nothing” earlier on, “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” veers into some shredding guitar and bombast before three of its eight minutes are up, the bulk of the impression Ealdor Bealu are looking to make is in the atmosphere and mood of the piece, as the balance of vocals in the mix as well as the more languid groove that takes hold demonstrate. With Collingwood echoing out soothing “ooh”s as they move into the last comedown and strums, any and all freneticism is gone, and just maybe they’ve arrived at that other place for which they’ve seemed all along to present such a longing — even if that’s not necessarily how it works out in the video. In any case, between “Be Ye Gone” and “Mirror Reflecting Mirror,” Psychic Forms heathen dances and twists through “Fade into Nothing,” the centerpiece “Way of the Sudden Storm” and “Laid on Display,” bringing individualist purpose to an aural ideology that is classically heavy and yet brought to bear as informed by the modern prog of Elder, a European folk-metal aesthetic and a deep sense of Americana as well. From the graceful manner in which “Way of the Sudden Storm” executes its midpoint sweep to its last drift into the highlight serenity in the opening moments of “Laid on Display,” which will bring forth its crunch in its own time thank you very much, the forward steps the band are taking as a collective are considered, plotted skillfully, and presented to the listener with an intention toward immersion and communicating identity through sound.
And while Psychic Forms is declarative in that way, it does not impose. The shove in “Be Ye Gone” is gentle — answered with nearly-subconscious-seeming symmetry in “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” — and even at its most forceful, “Fade into Nothing” uses heft and intensity — you’ll note the screams late for a touch of blackened extremity amid the solo — as means rather than ends, and for however much time they spend exploring the air around them, Ealdor Bealu refuse to lose their footing. This dynamic, perhaps with Mulcock shifting the chemistry somewhat as a new member of the band, still feels built off their prior accomplishments, but the fluidity of “Way of the Sudden Storm” alone is enough to demonstrate the clarity with which they approach their craft. Psychic Forms is consciousness speaking to the organic. Not light on ambition by any means, but the scope of shimmering highs and dug-in lows realizes the aims of Psychic Forms in such a way as to be wholly satisfying and almost impressionistic in its brush strokes. They are not necessarily telling you at any moment where they’re putting you, but you end up there and they’re ready to greet you just the same. The listening experience is ultimately rewarding in proportion with the effort one puts into it. To engage and be engaged.
As to Russell‘s message in the sign above, I might only argue that ‘the end,’ such as it is, is neither one thing nor ‘near’ as much as unfolding on multiple fronts before our unwilling-to-see-it eyes. No shortage, then, of fodder for escapism. May the world that Ealdor Bealu seem to find in this music actually come to pass.
And if there’s any message being delivered here, it is the old adage: quit your fucking job.
Off we go:
Ealdor Bealu, “Mirror Reflecting Mirror” video premiere
We’re thrilled to finally announce that our new album Psychic Forms will be released into the world on Friday, April 22nd on Vinyl/CD/Digital via Metal Assault Records!! Recorded in Boise, ID by Z.V. House of Rabbit Brush Audio and mastered by the legend himself James Plotkin, Psychic Forms is the strongest album Ealdor Bealu has ever achieved in all aspects of song craft, performance, and production. It is also our first offering with new drummer Michael Mulcock steering the rhythm section to prolific and uncharted territory, as well as our first to be fully supported by a record label. Metal Assault Records has an incredibly creative and formidable roster, and we’re honored to be able to work with this rapidly growing label on our new album.
The majestic, sprawling gate-fold artwork for the record was created by Italy’s Leoncio Harmr, and lends itself perfectly to the diverse and unpredictable album it bears. Always with a mind toward the natural world around us, but steeped in the intricacies of our own human existence and struggles, Psychic Forms delves deep into the path Ealdor Bealu has carved out over these past 7 years all the while pushing toward bold and surprising new realms.
Track Listing:
Be Ye Gone 9:28 Fade into Nothing 8:15
Way of the Sudden Storm 7:05 Laid on Display 7:04 Mirror Reflecting Mirror 8:07
Recorded & Mixed by Z.V. House @ Rabbit Brush Audio (Boise, ID) Mastered by James Plotkin Album Art by Leoncio Harmr Album Layout by Adam Rosenlund
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Michael Mulcock: Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 10th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Brazen in its forward reach, the upcoming third album, Psychic Forms, by Boise, Idaho, four-piece Ealdor Bealu, is set to release April 22 through Metal Assault Records. And oh my goodness. Its five tracks run a particularly gorgeous and progressive 40-minute stretch, and with preorders coming Feb. 18, I know word’s out early here, but wow this record right on. With vocal contributions from guitarists Carson Russell (also Ghorot) and Travis X. Abbott (also Sawtooth Monk) as well as bassist Rylie Collingwood — I never realized how many double-letters there were in this band; I wonder if drummer Michael Mulcock feels left out, though at least he’s got some alliteration — their earthen psychedelic procession has never sounded more vital or patient in its flow and you’ll pardon me if I just cut to the chase, save the review for the review, and tell you that it’s already on my best of 2022 list.
So think of this as a heads up, or a keep-your-eyes-peeled or just a more-to-come if you want. Whatever gets you there. There’s no audio from Psychic Forms yet to share, much to my chagrin — opener “Be Ye Gone” makes the point beautifully and will serve as the lead single next month — but 2019’s Spirit of the Lonely Places (review here), which was also one of that year’s favorite offerings, is streaming below to give you a base to work from as it seems they’ve also done.
Go ahead:
EALDOR BEALU – Psychic Forms – April 22
New Full-Length Album(3rd): Psychic Forms Release Date: Friday April, 22nd 2022 First Single/Vinyl Pre-Order: Friday February, 18th 2022
Record Label: Metal Assault Records (LA) Medium: 200 Multi-Color Vinyl, 200 CD, Digital Recorded and Mixed by: Z.V. House @ Rabbit Brush Audio (Boise, ID) Mastered by: James Plotkin Album Artwork: Leoncio Harmr
We’re thrilled to finally announce that our new album Psychic Forms will be released into the world on Friday, April 22nd on Vinyl/CD/Digital via Metal Assault Records!! Recorded in Boise, ID by Z.V. House of Rabbit Brush Audio and mastered by the legend himself James Plotkin, Psychic Forms is the strongest album Ealdor Bealu has ever achieved in all aspects of song craft, performance, and production. It is also our first offering with new drummer Michael Mulcock steering the rhythm section to prolific and uncharted territory, as well as our first to be fully supported by a record label. Metal Assault Records has an incredibly creative and formidable roster, and we’re honored to be able to work with this rapidly growing label on our new album.
The majestic, sprawling gate-fold artwork for the record was created by Italy’s Leoncio Harmr, and lends itself perfectly to the diverse and unpredictable album it bears. Always with a mind toward the natural world around us, but steeped in the intricacies of our own human existence and struggles, Psychic Forms delves deep into the path Ealdor Bealu has carved out over these past 7 years all the while pushing toward bold and surprising new realms.
The first single from Psychic Forms, Be Ye Gone, arrives on Friday, February 18th as well as the Vinyl Pre-Order kickoff via Metal Assault Records. Follow us on all platforms for tons of new content over the coming weeks and months as our album release draws closer!!
Track Listing:
Be Ye Gone 9:28 Fade into Nothing 8:15
Way of the Sudden Storm 7:05 Laid on Display 7:04 Mirror Reflecting Mirror 8:07
Ealdor Bealu is: Carson Russell: Guitar, Vocals Rylie Collingwood: Bass, Vocals Travis Abbott: Guitar, Vocals Michael Mulcock: Drums
