Posted in Whathaveyou on July 18th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
There hasn’t been a peep so far as I’ve heard from Kyiv’s Ethereal Riffian since the band led by guitarist/vocalist Val Hornev called it a day following the Fall 2019 release of their relatively-stripped-down Legends (review here) album, and but for the circumstance behind “Eternal Home,” I have to wonder if there would be in the first place. The Ukrainian meditative heavy specialists’ return comes on the heels of the war-destruction of a band associate’s home (and pets) — the brother of their sound engineer — and the two-minute instrumental clip of the first new Ethereal Riffian track in half a decade coincides with a fundraising effort on the part of Robustfellow Productions to give money to those affected by the bombing that took place on July 8.
Because, hey, by the way, this war is still happening too. Content in the first place to engage in a proxy-war gambling with other countries’ lives (big change), nobody in my home country seems to want to talk about it anymore — Democrats are fearful of being portrayed as warmongers, Republicans are christofascists poised to pull apart the country’s admittedly imperfect system in favor of pro-Russian demagoguery — and I’m not saying Israel/Palestine doesn’t also deserve attention, but nothing here has been solved and won’t be so long as the violence continues. Which it seems like it will until I guess Vladimir Putin has a new Soviet Union cast in whatever image of one he has in his mind. It will be a relief when the floods come.
Two minutes of peace in all this and the dissolution of civil liberties too is welcome. I don’t know what if anything it will lead to from Ethereal Riffian, but the video is gorgeous and the song is serene, and in 2024 you take what you can fucking get for reminders that there’s more to this world than horror and the potential for more horror.
To wit:
Ethereal Riffian Drops New Mesmerizing Music Video in July 2024
Mystic rock band from Kyiv, Ethereal Riffian, which seemed to be on hold since November 2019, drops a new mesmerizing music video called “Eternal Home”. The band worked on this meditative composition as a two-piece.
On July 8, a russian terrorist state bombed one of the largest children’s hospitals in Europe. The same day one part of the residential building in Kyiv was destroyed completely by one of their missiles. Brother of our sound engineer lived in this building with his family. Luckily, none of the family members was at home, but this inhumane atrocity took the lives of their cat and dog, and also their home.
All funds gathered from this campaign will go to help our sound engineer’s brother’s family and their neighbors,” comments Val Kornev. “In a world disrupted by wars, keeping the light kindled is crucial. This music video intends to give a small island of peace to people wherever they are and whatever their life conditions are at the moment.”
Robustfellow Prods. joins the charity initiative and prepares massive BUNDLE with rare Ethereal Riffian releases. Also, all July sales will go to support the neighborhood that suffered from the bombing.
Posted in Reviews on January 10th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Hey all, we made it to the final day of the Winter 2020 Quarterly Review, so congrats to ‘us’ and by us I mean myself and anyone still reading, which is probably about two or three people. On my end today is completely manic in terms of real-life, offline logistics — much to do — but no way I’m letting one last batch of 10 reviews fall by the wayside, so rest assured, by the time this goes live, it’ll be complete, even though I’ve had to swap things out as some stuff has been locked into other coverage since I first slated it. Plenty around waiting to be written up. Perpetually, it would seem.
But before we dive in, thank you for reading if you’ve caught any part of this QR. I hope your 2020 is off to an excellent start and that finding new music to love is as much a part of your next 12 months as it can possibly be.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Sunn O))), Pyroclasts
The narrative — because of course there’s a narrative; blessings and peace upon it — is that drone-metal progenitors Sunn O))), while in the studio recording earlier-2019’s Life Metal (review here) with Steve Albini, began each day doing a 12-minute improvised modal drone working in a different scale. They used a stopwatch to keep time. Thus the four tracks of Pyroclasts were born. They all hover around 11 minutes after editing, which settles neatly onto two vinyl sides, and it’s the rawer vision of Sunn O))), with just Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley‘s guitars, rather than some of the more elaborate arrangements which they’ve been known to undertake. That they’d put out two studio records in the same year is striking considering it had been four years since 2015’s Kannon (review here), but I think the truth of the matter is they had these tapes and decided they were worth preserving with a popular release. I wouldn’t say they were wrong, and the immersion here is a good reminder of the core appeal of Sunn O)))‘s conjured depths.
Traditional doom rarely sounds as vital as it does in the hands of Crypt Sermon. The Philly five-piece return with The Ruins of Fading Light on Dark Descent Records as an awaited follow-up to 2015’s Out of the Garden (review here) and thereby bring forth classic metal with all the urgency of thrash and the poise of the NWOBHM. Frontman Brooks Wilson — also responsible for the album art — is in command here and with the firm backing of bassist Frank Chin and drummer Enrique Sagarnaga, guitarists Steve Jannson and James Lipczynski offer sharpened-axe riffs and solo scorch offset by passages of keyboard for an all the more epic vibe. The rolling “Christ is Dead” is pure Candlemass, but the galloping “The Snake Handler” might be the highlight of the 10-track/55-minute run, though that’s not to take away either from the Dehumanizer chug of “Key of Solomon” or the melodic reach of the closing title-track either. Take your pick, really. It’s all metal as fuck and glorious for that. If they don’t sell denim jackets, they should.
The Neptune Power Federation, Memoirs of a Rat Queen
“Can you dig what the Imperial Priestess is laying down?” is the central question of Memoirs of a Rat Queen, the first album from Sydney, Australia’s The Neptune Power Federation to be released through Cruz Del Sur Music, and it arrives over an ELO “Don’t Bring Me Down”-style arena rock beat on leadoff “Can You Dig?” as an intro to the rest of the LP. Strange, epic, progressive, traditional, heavy and cascading rock and roll follows, as intricate as it is immediately catchy, and whether it’s “Watch Our Masters Bleed” or “I’ll Make a Man out of You,” the Imperial Priestess Screaming Loz Sutch and company make it easy to answer in the affirmative. Arrangements are willfully over the top as “Bound for Hell” and “The Reaper Comes for Thee” engage a heavy rocker take on heavy metal’s legacy, maddened laughter and all in the latter track, which closes, and the affect on the listener is nothing less than an absolute blast — a reminder of the empowering sound of early metal on a disaffected generation in the late ’70s and early ’80s and how that same fist-pump-against-the-world has become timeless. No doubt the costumes and all that make The Neptune Power Federation striking live, but as Memoirs of a Rat Queen readily steps forward to prove, the songs are there as well.
Have Chron Goblin been here before? The title of their album speaks to a kind of creepy deja vu feeling, and that’s emblematic of the Canadian band’s move away from the party rock of their past offerings, their last LP having been Backwater (review here) 2015. Fortunately, while they seek out some new aesthetic ground, the 11 tracks of Here Before do maintain Chron Goblin‘s penchant for straight-ahead songcraft and unpretentious execution — and frankly, that wasn’t at all broken. Neither, perhaps was the let’s-get-drunk-and-bounce-around spirit of their prior work, but they sound more mature in a song like the six-minute “Ghost” and “Slipping Under” (premiered here) successfully melds the shift in presentation with the energy of their prior output. Maybe it’s still a party but we watch horror movies? I don’t know. They’ve still got “Giving in to Fun” early in the tracklisting — worth noting it follows the swaying “Oblivion” — so maybe I’m misreading the whole thing, or maybe it’s more complex than being entirely one thing or the other might allow for. Perish the thought. Either way, can’t mess with the songs.
Ukrainian heavy rockers Ethereal Riffian make a pointed sonic shift with their Legends album (on Robustfellow), keeping some of the grunge spirit in their melodies as the eight-minute “Moonflower” and closer “Ethereal Path” show, but in songs like “Unconquerable” and the early salvo of “Born Again,” “Dreamgazer” and “Legends” and even the second half of “Kosmic” and “Pain to Wisdom,” they let loose from some of the more meditative aspects of their past work with a fiery drive and a theme of enlightenment through political and social change. A kind of great awakening of the self. There’s still plenty of “ethereal” to go with all that “riffian” in the intro “Sage’s Alchemy,” or the first half of “Kosmic” or the CD bonus “Yeti’s Hide,” but no question the balance has tipped toward the straightforward, and the idea seems to be that the electrified feel is as much a part of the message as the message itself. The only trouble is that since putting Legends out, Ethereal Riffian called it quits to refocus their energies elsewhere in the universe. Are they really done? I’m skeptical, but if so, then at least they went out trying new things, which always seemed to be a specialty, and on a note of directly positive attitude.
A second long-player behind 2015’s Para Solem, the eight-song/35-minute Nemesis is not only made for vinyl, but it’s made for rockers. Specifically, heavy rockers. And it’s heavy rock, for heavy rockers. Based in Linz, Austria, the double-guitar four-piece Parasol Caravan have their sound and style on lockdown, and their work, while not really keeping any secrets in terms of where it’s coming from in its ’70s-via-’90s modern take, is brought to bear with a clarity that seems particularly derived from the European heavy rock tradition. Para Solem was longer and somewhat fuzzier in tone, but the stripped down approach of the title-track at the outset and its side B counterpart, “Serpent of Time” still unfold to a swath of ground covered, whether it’s in the subdued instrumental “Acceptance” or “Transition,” which follows the driving “Blackstar” and closes the LP with a bit of a progressive metal edge. Even that has its hook, though, and that’s ultimately the point.
The title Fimbultýr translates to “mighty god” and is listed among the alternative names of Odin, which would seem to be who Oslo’s Golden Core have in mind in the leadoff title-track of their second album. Issued through Fysisk Format, it is not necessarily what one thinks of as “Viking metal” in the post-Amon Amarth or post-Enslaved context, but instead, the eight-song collection unfolds a biting modern sludge taking an edge of the earlier Mastodon lumber and bringing it to harshly-vocalized rollout. The 11-minute “Runatal” and only-seconds-shorter “Buslubben” are respective vocal points around which sides A and B of the release center, and each finds a way to give like emphasis to atmosphere and extremity, to stretch as well as pummel, and much to Golden Core‘s credit, they seem not only aware of the changes they’re presenting in their material, but in control of how and when they’re executed. The resulting linear flow of Fimbultýr, given the shifts within, isn’t to be understated as a victory on the part of the band.
Harbinger may well be just that — a sign of things to come. The debut offering from Black Smoke Omega wraps progressive death-doom and gothic piano-led atmospherics around a thematic drawing from science-fiction, and while I’m not certain of the narrative being told by the Dortmund, Germany-based band, their method for telling it is fascinating. It’s not entirely seamless in its shifts, and it doesn’t seem like the band — seemingly spearheaded by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jack Nier, though Ashley James (The Antiquity) plays guitar on “A Man without a Heart” and Michael Tjanaka brings synth/piano to “Kainé” — want it to be, but there’s no denying that by the time “Falling Awake” seems to provide some melodic resolution to the often-slow-motion tumult prior, it’s doing so by bringing the different sides together. It’s a significant journey from the raw, barking shouts on “The Black Scrawl” and the lurching-into-chug-into-lurch of “The Man without a Heart” to get there, however. But this, too, seems to be on purpose. How it all might shake out feels like a question for the next release, but Black Smoke Omega seem poised here to leave heads spinning.
While on the surface, Liquid Orbit might be on familiar enough ground with Game of Promises for anyone who has encountered the swath of up-and-comers working in the wake of Blues Pills, the Bremen, Germany, five-piece distinguish themselves through not just the keyboard work of Anders alongside Andree‘s guitar, Ralf‘s bass, Steve‘s drums and Sylvia‘s vocals, but also the shifts between funk, boogie, and edges of doom that play out in songs like “Shared Pain” and “Please Let Her Go,” as well as the title-track, which starts side B of the Nasoni Records-issued vinyl with a highlight guitar solo and an insistent snare tap beneath that works to bring movement to what’s still one of Game of Promises‘ shorter tracks at six and a half minutes, as opposed to the earlier eight-minute-toppers on side A or the psych-prog finale “Verlorene Karawane,” which translates in English to “lost caravan” and indeed basks in some Mideastern vibe and backward-effects vocal swirl. Bottom line, if you go into it thinking you know everything you’re getting, you’re probably selling it short.
As the title hints, the name-your-price Black Volume III is the third EP release from Toronto’s Sun Below. All three have been issued over roughly a year’s span, and the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Jason Craig, drummer/backing vocalist Will Adams, bassist/backing vocalist Garrison Thordarson — who as far as I’m concerned wins this entire Quarterly Review when it comes to names; that’s an awesome name — and two have featured covers. On their debut, they took on “Dragonaut” by Sleep, and on Black Volume III, in following up the 12-minute nod-roller “Solar Burnout,” they thicken and further stonerize the catchy jaunt that is “Wires” by Red Fang. They’ve got, in other words, good taste. Black Volume III opens with “Green Visions” and thereby takes some righteous fart-fuzz for a walk both that and “Solar Burnout” show plenty of resi(n)dual Sleep influence, but honestly, it’s a self-releasing band with three dudes who sound like they’re having a really good time figuring out where they want to be in terms of sound after about a year from their first release, and if you ask anything else of Black Volume III than what it gives, you’re obviously lacking in context. Which is to say you’re fucking up. Don’t fuck up. Dig riffs instead.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 16th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I like to think that usually when I put something up like this, it might catch eyes from a range of people, or if not, at least I don’t have a specific person in mind. This is not one of those posts. This post is made for one person in particular, and whoever you are, you all know that person. They’re the ones who piss and moan about how everything new sucks and there’s nothing good coming out like when they were 12 or whatever and nothing is cool and blah blah blah. Everyone knows that person. Sometimes I think we’ve all been that person, but there’s never been less of an excuse for being that person than there is now. New music is everywhere. Everywhere. Not only is it waiting to be discovered, it’s pretty much throwing itself in your face and screaming “HERE I AM AND ALSO I’M PROBABLY FREE AT LEAST TO STREAM!”
Short of new music showing up at your doorstep carrying a tray of warm blueberry muffins, I find it hard to think of ways in which it could be made easier than it is in this day and age. It’s one of the fringe benefits of the apocalypse in which we reside.
Case in point, here comes Ukrainian imprint Robustfellow Productions with a 42-track/three-plus-hour label sampler bringing together past releases with exclusive songs, upcoming stuff and a whole mess of styles rammed together for your, well, sampling convenience. Frankly, if you — yes, you — make it past Eternal Elysium and Thunderchief and are still complaining there’s nothing good out there, the problem isn’t the rest of the world, but even if they’re not your thing, there’s a ton of stuff here and I won’t even pretend to know it all. It just takes the smallest amount of digging through, that’s all.
So go on. It’s waiting for you:
Robustfellow Prods. is happy to present FREE music sampler featuring finest representatives of the robust scene for the recent times. Listen to the highlights form Robustfellow’s roster., Robust Digital releases that being streaming during this year plus a preview of what’s to grab in Robust Shop for next year.
Cup of robust tea full of psychedelic, sludge, prog, stoned, grunge, death, metalcore, black metal and all the celebrated genres.
Cover artwork by ????????? ????? Design by Konstantin Bikmulin Sounds “AS IT IS”
Robustfellow Prods., 2019
Robustfellow Samper 2019 from A to Z:
Backchat [Kyiv, UA] War and Plague Cold Shell [Kyiv, UA] You Think Too Much About Death* Death Pill [Kyiv, UA] Go Your Way* Dépaysement [Kyiv, UA] Ground Arms* Doomed City (previously 5R6) [Kharkiv, UA] No Heroes Eternal Elysium-official [Nagoya, JP] Burning A Sinner* Ethereal Riffian [Kyiv, UA] Unconquerable Freeky Cleen [Kyiv, UA] Done Time* Gamardah Fungus [Dnipro, UA] Fetus Crying* House Of Flowers [Dnipro, UA] Dawn ??? [Kharkiv, UA] ??? Knifeman [Kharkiv, UA] ????? ??ntur [Kyiv, UA] ??, ???? ??????? ??????? La Horsa Bianca [Kharkiv, UA] Da cao Love’n’Joy [Kyiv, UA] Come about Merzotna Potvora [Kyiv, UA] ?erne?* ???? [Kyiv, UA] ?.?.?.?. NoT [Kharkiv, UA] A Penny (????????) ????? [Uzhgorod, UA] Ad Civitas Solis One Magic Megawatt [Kyiv, UA] Die Every Night* OOZE [Vasylkiv, UA] Backend Pustosh [Vasylkiv, UA] Nespravzhni Pyraweed [Baku, AZ] Man of the mountain Red Eyed Hyena [Ivano-Frankivsk, UA] Tale of Marvin Heemeyer Septa [Odessa, UA] The Tin Man Shiva the Destructor [Kyiv, UA] Nirvana Beach* Slice & Dice [Mykolaiv, UA] Filthy Basement Sons of Alpha Centauri [London, UK] SS Montgomery (James Plotkin Remix) stonefromthesky [Kyiv, UA] Confined Straytones [Kyiv, UA] Dark Lord Swörn [Turin, IT] Electric Saint The Anchor Stones [Kyiv, UA] Love It The COW [Kyiv, UA] PLATO The Glober [Kharkiv, UA] Space Harmony THUNDERCHIEF [Richmond, Virginia, US] Stone House Tungu [Chernihiv, UA] ???????? ?????????* Urgalia [Cherkassy, UA] GhostFloor* Volver Stone [Zhytomyr, UA] Wasteland VOVK [Kyiv, UA] The Last Ship Above the Sky Vykroutas [Kyiv, UA] ??????? ???i? – ????? ?? ?i?* Warningfog [Kyiv, UA] II. The Cow We The Censors [Kyiv, UA] Keep It Up
Back in May, Ukrainian heavy rockers Ethereal Riffianpremiered the first single of their upcoming album, Legends, which was the title-track, here. With it, the Kiev-based four-piece showed a marked shift in aesthetic, adjusting the balance between the “ethereal” and the “riffian” portions of their sound to affect a much more straightforward attack than one had come to expect from their meditative, slowly unfolding contemplations prior. “Unconquerable,” which is the third single from Legends, with “Kosmic” having come out in June, follows suit in its relatively direct approach, and its chorus lyric, “No one can put the limit on fearless spirit,” summarizes the general perspective from which it’s working. The band have never been shy about stating their intentions and motivations, and clearly this time around the aim is to capture that indomitable thing in humanity that compels us to move forward, to explore and reach new places and new ideas. It is an optimistic vision of both the future and the present, perhaps written from a place of encouragement, like an existential pep talk to a world that — and I don’t think this is overstating it — only continues to feel more thoroughly fucked by the day.
I’ll forego talking about politics or culture on any grander scale — both because I find it personally exhausting and because if I had any insight into any of it, I’d probably be running for office instead of writing about Ukrainian rock videos — but yeah, it’s pretty clear that along with Ethereal Riffian‘s more grounded sound on Legends, they’re also engaging real-world issues in a straightforward manner. More power to them — as well as to the people. It can be hard when living in a moment to place it in a historical context. That is to say, everything now feels urgent because we don’t know yet to what it will lead. We see this in America with a systematic dismantling of democratic norms, and certainly the Ukraine has more than its share of conflict at present as well. That Ethereal Riffian see the line of human progression as being that — one of progress — is encouraging in itself, but as the uptempo kick of “Unconquerable” demonstrates, it’s as much a motivation for the future as well as a reflection on the past. Their aim is to tap into that very spirit and manifest it as an answer to this pivotal-seeming and undeniably troubled age.
One thing and then I’ll let you get to the video: It’s a common misconception — bred in no small part by the purposeful narrative — that Rosa Parks was just an old, tired lady on a bus who refused to move for a white man. She may indeed have been that, but she was also a civil rights activist for more than a decade at that point, and way more of a freedom fighter than the bystander history sometimes casts her as being. She was, then, even braver than she’s often credited for being. Just a thought in response to the quote below from the band.
Enjoy the video:
Ethereal Riffian, “Unconquerable” lyric video
Please welcome the third single from ‘Legends’ album.
Official lyric video for ‘Unconquerable’ from ‘Legends’ album. Video by Anastasia Homenko.
“Behind every legend, there’s a legendary act. Behind every legendary act, there’s an unconquerable spirit. Spirit devoid of any fear, doubt and indecisiveness. It’s an invisible force that made Terry Fox run 5,373 kilometers with one leg to raise awareness of cancer. It’s what inspired tender woman Rosa Parks to stand up for the rights of black people in one of the most racist states of America. It’s the inner strength that made a man in a loincloth named Gandhi to unite the Indian nation despite incredible opposition. It’s the spirit that our times need most. The spirit that awaits to be awakened in each of us.”
Thanks to: Beachfront, Magges, Tony, NASA, Motion Digital, Taylor Mefford, Simon Maldoct, Motion Places, Mark Schellenberg, Stockfootage, William Ehrendreich, Creative Film, Val Kornev Photography
Ethereal Riffian is: Val Kornev (aka Stonezilla) – guitar/vocal/lyrics Alexander Kornev (aka SAF) – bass Max Yuhimenko (aka Southman) – lead guitar Nikita Shipovskoi (aka Ship) – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 17th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Just over a month ago, Ukrainian four-piece Ethereal Riffian saw fit to premiere the video here for the title-track of their forthcoming long-player, Legends. Details about the album at that point were pretty sparse, but now we’ve at least got cover, tracklisting and a proper release date to go on, as well as some information on the pressings. As ever, the Kiev-based meditative outfit have a host of differences between formats planned, including different masters and designs, as well as a box set edition to come from Robustfellow Productions. It is the band’s third album and first in half a decade — though they’ve hardly been idle in that time — and the release date is Sept. 6.
If you missed the video the first time around, it’s here at the bottom, and if you’re familiar with the band’s back catalog, I’m sure you’ll find it surprising in its straightforward attack. I’m still curious as to how that will play into the rest of the record, but at least now I know when we’ll find out.
From the PR wire:
Ethereal Riffian announce release details for “Legends”
Ethereal Riffian’s third full-length will be released via Robustfellow Prods. on the 6th of September 2019. Entitled “Legends”, the album will be available on CD/LP/MC and Digital format. Each album version will feature a different audio master and exclusive design. There will be a limited edition box prepared by the label and the band will allow you to dive deep into this massive legendary release.
‘Legends’ tracklist:
Sage’s Alchemy Born Again Dreamgazer Legends Kosmic Unconquerable Moonflower Pain to Wisdom Yeti’s Hide Ethereal Path
The latest LP released by Ethereal Riffian, “Aeonian”, was released in January 2014, which makes of ‘Legends’ the band’s first full-length in more than five years. First single and music video from ‘Legends’ was released on the 14th of May. Artwork by Yura ‘xninja’ Nagorniy.
Ethereal Riffian is: Val Kornev (aka Stonezilla) – guitar/vocal/lyrics Alexander Kornev (aka SAF) – bass Max Yuhimenko (aka Southman) – lead guitar Nikita Shipovskoi (aka Ship) – drums
One of the aspects of Ethereal Riffian‘s approach that I find easiest to appreciate is how much conscious thought there is put into their work. The Ukrainian four-piece are prone to making mini-documentaries (see here and here) explaining their motivations and the concepts with which they’re working, and it’s a clarity of intent that in my mind at least makes them all the more of a progressive outfit. They will release their third album, Legends, later this year through respected purveyor Robustfellow Productions, and they give an enticing first glimpse of things to come in their new video for the title-track.
By the time Legends arrives, it will have been five years since Ethereal Riffian‘s last studio full-length, 2014’s Aeonian, though they’ve certainly had plenty out in between with two live albums, an EP and the various behind-the-scenes looks at what they do. Still, a new album is an exciting prospect, and they show off a striking turn with “Legends,” leaving behind the ritualism that pervaded the four longform tracks of Aeonian in favor of a more direct, grunge-influenced style. Their sense of melody still holds sway, but “Legends” works in a context of hooks that’s new for Ethereal Riffian and in just four minutes, it makes a striking statement of where the band are at in terms of their sound. More riffian than ethereal, if you will. The image in the video of hammering out metalwork does not seem accidental.
I don’t know how much “Legends” ultimately will speak for the album that shares its name — I think we’ve got a while to go before we get there — but I’ll hope to have more as the release date comes closer. Until then, try to keep in mind as you make your way through the quick four minutes of “Legends” that nothing Ethereal Riffian do happens by mistake, and that this turn in sound is part of the overarching consideration they bring to their material all the time. They discuss it a bit below, but I wouldn’t be surprised either if they dive deeper into the concepts as the year plays out.
Enjoy:
Ethereal Riffian, “Legends” official video premiere
Official music video for “Legends” (taken from “Legends” LP, to be released by Robustfellow Prods. in the second half of 2019).
Mysterious spiritualized rockers from Ukraine, Ethereal Riffian, are presenting the first single and music video from their forthcoming third LP. Directed by iconic Ukrainian director, Viktor Priduvalov, the new music video for the track ‘Legends’ showcases a drastic contrast with the band’s previous works. Frontman, Val Kornev, explains the shift in the band’s songwriting and overall direction:
“With current crises in worldwide leadership, ecology, education and, most and foremost, consciousness, we just can’t wait any longer to finally start doing things right. Enough of this bullshit! Our turbulent times require courageous decisions and robust music. Music that can get you going even if you’re descending straight into the depths of hell and know that this day can be your last. This is what this track is about. It’s about legends and you can become one too.”
Ethereal Riffian’s third full-length album, eponymous to the single, is set to be released in the second half of 2019 via Robustfellow Prods.
Produced by: Re:evolution Film Director: Viktor Priduvalov Director of photography: Eugene Kredentser Assistant Cameraman: Ilya Pravdiviy Producer: Viktor Sema Light: Max Ruban Post-production: Mental dRive Studio Track was recorded, mixed and mastered at Bobina Records
Ethereal Riffian is: Val Kornev (aka Stonezilla) – guitar/vocal/lyrics Alexander Kornev (aka SAF) – bass Max Yuhimenko (aka Southman) – lead guitar Nikita Shipovskoi (aka Ship) – drums
Is it time to start looking forward to the new Ethereal Riffian album yet? Okay, good. Because I pretty much already was anyway. There’s nothing like being ahead of the game, and when it comes to the Kiev-based progressive, meditative, shamanic heavy rockers, whose sense of ritualism so righteously pervaded their Afterlight live album/DVD (review here), it’s worth keeping up with the process as it unfolds. Fortunately, they’re anything but shy when it comes to giving behind-the-scenes looks at what they do. The video portion of Afterlight was interspersed with documentary footage, and last year’s Relics (discussed here) found them talking about the making of their lush, personalized packaging for limited edition items that’s become such a part of their presentation, so that a release becomes a multi-sensory experience not just aurally or visually, but as well in terms of how it actually feels in your hands.
The Afterlight release seems particularly relevant when it comes to the making of Ethereal Riffian‘s next record. In a new video, the four-piece enter Bobina Records to begin a live demoing process for the aforementioned new album — their third behind 2014’s Aeonian and their 2011 debut, Shaman’s Visions — and they specifically note that recording live is something they decided to do after the live record. There’s a quote from yours truly included in the video — a nice little ego kick, and much appreciated — but more importantly, it’s a means for the band not only to make the tracking process more exciting for themselves, but to harvest that energy and inject it into the actual sound of what they’re creating. One should keep in mind they’re still just in the demo stage, so it’ll likely be a while before the album surfaces, but I get the feeling that Ethereal Riffian will bring us all in the loop as they move forward toward finalizing the album.
By the way, I find it very hard to believe they don’t have a title yet. No way a band who puts this much thought and concerted, self-aware effort into progressing their sound lets a thing like that go so long without being nailed down. They’re playing coy, keeping it up their sleeve until the time is right. That’s my bet, anyhow.
Frontman Val Kornev forwarded the video over, and my first question for him was how many they’ll be making. His answer: “4 to 6, haven’t decided yet.” Fair enough. I’ll do my best to keep up.
Enjoy the first clip below, followed by some quick word from Robustfellow Productions via thee social medias:
Ethereal Riffian, Recording Third LP – Video 1
Ethereal Riffian enters Bobina records studio to produce demo of the forthcoming album.
More news to follow soon.
Ethereal Riffian is: Val Kornev (aka Stonezilla) – guitar/vocal/lyrics Alexander Kornev (aka SAF) – bass Max Yuhimenko (aka Southman) – lead guitar Nikita Shipovskoi (aka Ship) – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 11th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Say what you want about meditative Ukrainian psychedelic rockers Ethereal Riffian, they’re well documented. We’re little more than a month out from the release of their live-show/behind-the-scenes rock doc DVD Afterlight (review here), and already band-spearhead Val Kornev and company have a follow-up out. Ethereal Riffian Relics is shorter, apparently not looking to be feature-length this time out, and centers around the process of making special packaging for physical pressings, which is something I know damn well I’ve commented on the band doing on multiple occasions at this point. They’re good at it. It’s something worth talking about.
That said, I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered a band with such a singular drive to communicate their intentions flat out to their audience who still came off sounding so utterly mystical when you actually listen to their material. It’s quite a duality. I’d say maybe they’ll cover that in a documentary at some point, but I’m pretty sure they already have.
Here’s a pretty picture of a new release wrapped in fabric and some info from the PR wire, and of course the video itself, which is up on YouTube now. Enjoy:
Ukrainian psych rockers ETHEREAL RIFFIAN celebrate the release of their documentary “Ethereal Riffian Relics”
Psychedelic ritualists ETHEREAL RIFFIAN announce the release of a new documentary. “Ethereal Riffian Relics” is dedicated to the band’s very special approach to crafting limited editions. It’s divided into two parts: in the first one, frontman Val Kornev answers 10 questions about ETHEREAL RIFFIAN’s limited editions series ; in the second one, all limited editions created by the band to date are showcased.
The band comments: “We already have a short documentary called “Robust Rehearsal”, which describes the background of the band, its creative world, work in literature and its very essential philosophical and spiritual components,” says band leader Val Kornev. “And now we release “Ethereal Riffian Relics” documentary which explains the role of visual presentation and can help our listeners to create a more thorough understanding of our work. This short film will be of interest for all lovers of limited editions, for those who already create exclusive items and for those who only have an intention to create it”.
The release of the documentary is supported by the unprecedented 3-day 30% sale on all merchandise, which will serve as a fundraising campaign for the recording of the band’s third LP, to take place next year. Sale starts on the 9th of October and ends on the 12th of October. The discount can be obtained by entering a code-name “peace2all” when checking-out on Bandcamp.
“We sincerely hope that the message carefully integrated in our music is able to induce our listeners, and now our readers as well, to open up the new facets of existence and kindle the light of their true self, which will not dim even in the darkest times.” — ER team
