Posted in Whathaveyou on September 17th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
In my mind I had this as early 2022, but November certainly works too for the upcoming album, Until the Darkness Goes, from Apostle of Solitude. The long-running Indianapolis doomers offer six new tracks on the outing, and while there’s no audio yet, the follow-up to 2018’s From Gold to Ash (review here) will arrive after a pandemic spent refining their songs toward their most melodic and mournful material yet. I’m not saying I’ve heard it or anything, they’re not messing around when they talk about different kinds of ‘heavy’ at work. Apostle of Solitude have always carried an emotional weight to go with that of their tones — and they’ve always been undervalued as both a studio and live act — and that soul continues to resonate in new ways on these tracks. “Beautifully Dark” indeed.
I saw the news on social media and was in the midst of putting the post together when it also came down the PR wire, so kudos to Cruz Del Sur and Clawhammer PR on the coordinated rollout.
Here’s info:
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE To Release ‘Until The Darkness Goes’ This November
Indianapolis doom titans Apostle of Solitude will release their fifth studio album, “Until The Darkness Goes”, this November via Cruz Del Sur Music.
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE — featuring vocalist/guitarist Chuck Brown, guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, bassist Mike Naish and drummer Corey Webb — initially planned to record the album in late 2020, but health and safety concerns over the global pandemic pushed the start date to May 17 of this year. Once again, the band hunkered down in Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana, with long-time producer/engineer Mike Bridavsky at the helm.
According to Naish, the goal heading into the creation of “Until The Darkness Goes” was to write shorter, more compact songs, with an onus on their quality and emotional impact on the listener. “This album is short even by our standards,” he says. “The emotion of the lyrics coupled with slower tempos suggest a sudden and painful personal loss, a mood that evolved over the album’s creation. It is probably more about refining what we do best as a band — and individuals — to convey an idea as opposed to continuing a theme. In short, it’s a more polished version of everything we all loved about our previous records.”
The pandemic directly impacted APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE — one of its members lost both parents, casting a pall over its creation. The band took advantage of shifting recording dates to refine the album, resulting in what is unquestionably their darkest and most heartfelt LP to date.
“The pandemic was ever-present as the songwriting process evolved,” says Naish. “Thus, more of our personal experiences became infused in our playing and songwriting, specifically around vocal harmonies. To play music together was cathartic for us, but it was also challenging to stay safe during a pandemic. We were fortunate to have support from our label, Cruz Del Sur, to record when we felt comfortable. So, that’s what we did.”
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE recently resumed live activity, including two opening slots on the abbreviated THE OBSESSED and THE SKULL American tour. While the band enjoyed hitting the stage once again, they couldn’t help but worry things could come to a halt at any time.
“There always seemed to be some impending sense of doom (pun intended?) that nothing has any sense of permanence,” finishes Naish. “We are generously supported when we tour, and, for that, we are grateful. We owe it to ourselves and each other to pull our weight to bring this pandemic to an end. We want to tour in support of this release when conditions are favorable for both performers and fans. Unfortunately, we cannot predict when that will be. Working musicians are struggling right now to make ends meet, and we feel uncomfortable putting anyone at risk in these trying times. We’ll see you all as soon as we can do it safely.”
Cover artwork – original oil on canvas by WÆIK.
“Until The Darkness Goes” tracklisting: 1. When The Darkness Comes 2. The Union 3. Apathy In Isolation 4. Deeper Than The Oceans 5. Beautifully Dark 6. Relive The Day
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE is: Corey Webb – drums Chuck Brown – guitars, vocals Steve Janiak – guitars, vocals Mike Naish – bass
Preorders for Lavaborne‘s debut album, Black Winged Gods, begin Aug. 13 ahead of an Oct. 1 release on Wise Blood Records. And as asserted by the PR wire below, the double-guitar Indianapolis five-piece do indeed bask in the traditionalist glories of classic metal — the victories of yore, and so on — however, this isn’t some post-Iron Maiden, clean-and-clear take on NWOBHM grandiosity. Lavaborne kick up a good amount of dirt — not to mention viscera on “Flesh, Blood & Bone” — on their way through Black Winged Gods‘ 10-song/43-minute run, and they’re by no means shy about getting themselves covered in it.
By the time “Call to Worship” shifts into chug of “The Heathen Church” (premiering below), the chug begins to betray three-fifths of the band’s roots in the sludgier Mask of Sanity, and they present their metallurgical analysis with a resilient current of grit throughout the procession that follows, guitars soaring and shredding in “Flesh, Blood & Bone” with double-kickdrum galloping behind even as the vocalist Chris Latta (ex-Spirit Division) brings a rawer Messiah Marcolin to mind. So maybe some grandstanding, some theatricality, but still down and dirty for that.
Later, the title-track signals a shift to longer-form craft, a quiet break in the middle edging toward Dio-era Sabbath considerations, but the edge returns, and though “Prove Your Worth” and “The Final Mystery” are both duly doomed, transcending or at least transposing some of the earlier thrashiness in “Mortal Pride” or “The Serpent Seed,” the sense that at any moment Lavaborne might break out into a full-bore shove never dissipates. Black Winged Gods is a less predictable, more satisfying debut for that.
Over its course, it establishes these extremes of meter and purpose, and then toys with them, finding a middle ground in “The Great Reward” after “Flesh, Blood & Bone” only to blow it away in “Mortal Pride,” or using “Master of Medusa” — there are guest vocals there; unfortunately I don’t know by whom — as a transition into the acoustic-inclusive title-track even as that song bridges to the already noted closing salvo of “Prove Your Worth” and “The Final Mystery.” And they’re not so filthy or raw that “Prove Your Worth” doesn’t provide ample payoff in its later surge, gang shouts and thuds and a big cymbal-wash finish on the way to “The Final Mystery” and its bass-led beginning, chugging-but-complex unfurling and defiantly metal-of-doom stance. I don’t know when they’re playing (okay, Sept. 8, Black Circle in Indy; fine), but in long songs or short, fast songs or slow, these tracks were made for the stage.
They are schooled in the metal they’re making, fans as well as artists, they’ve taken years to refine their approach, and that passion bleeds through the material. There is no contempt for the form here, and the progression from “Call to Worship” to “The Final Mystery” is thoughtful, linear and ably directed, turning rawness of presentation into an aesthetic strength and their unwillingness to compromise in their purpose into a steel that will neither bend nor break. Fucking a, headbangers. Hit it.
“The Heathen Church” is on the player below, followed by some words from Latta on the track and more info on Black Winged Gods.
Please enjoy:
Chris Latta on “The Heathen Church”:
Anybody who’s heard the demo that we released in 2017 may recognize “The Heathen Church.” The way we play it now is a whole lot faster and more theatrical, which has made it the best opener for our shows as well as a no-brainer for kicking off the album. The lyrics tell the story of a cult that engineers the birth of the Antichrist Rosemary’s Baby-style, only for the resulting spawn to team up with his dear old dad and annihilate them. Think of it as a pro-choice anthem in Mercyful Fate clothing.
Indianapolis warriors Lavaborne forge their riffs in the magma of classic metal. Their Black Winged Gods debut is a searing and soaring introduction to the band’s epic power doom. Lavaborne are champions of metal’s unique ability to project danger and triumph. Harmonized guitars and sensational solos slither amongst serpents. Tales of rogues and mages are drenched in Candlemass heaviness. Like a true epic, Black Winged Gods has the scope of a grand adventure packed with NWOTHM charm and puffs of stoner doom. Lavaborne will gallop from the fire when Wise Blood Records releases Black Winged Gods on October 1st.
Lavaborne is: Chris Latta – Lead Vocals (ex – Spirit Division) Brandon Signorino – Guitar (Scorched Earth, ex – Steel Aggressor) Brandon Davis – Bass (Mask of Sanity) Freddie Rodriguez – Guitar (Mask of Sanity) Max Barber – Drums (Charonyx, Mask of Sanity)
We proceed onward, into this ever-growing swath of typos, lineup corrections made after posting, and riffs — more riffs! — that is the Quarterly Review. Today is Day Four and I’m feeling good. Not to say there isn’t some manner of exhaustion, but the music has been killer — today is particularly awesome — and that makes life much, much, much better as I’ve already said. I hope you’ve found one or two or 10 records so far that you’ve really dug. I know I’ve added a few to my best of 2021 list, including stuff right here. So yeah, we roll on.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip
To envision an expanse, and to crush it. Stockholm three-piece Spelljammer return five years after Ancient of Days (review here), with an all-the-more-massive second long-player through RidingEasy, turning their front-cover astronaut around to face the audience head on and offering 43 minutes/six tracks of encompassing largesse, topping 10 minutes in the title-track and “Silent Rift,” both on side B with the interlude “Peregrine” between them, after the three side A rollers, “Bellwether,” “Lake” and “Among the Holy” have tripped out outward and downward into an atmospheric plunge that is a joy to take feeling specifically geared as an invite to the converted. We are here, come worship with us. Also get crushed. Spelljammer records may not happen all the time, but you won’t be through “Bellwether” before you’re saying it was worth the wait.
A deceptively graceful second LP from Melbourne’s The Black Heart Death Cult, Sonic Mantras pulls together an eight-song/45-minute run that unfolds bookended by “Goodbye Gatwick Blues” (8:59) and “Sonic Dhoom” (9:47) and in between ebbs and flows across shorter pieces that maximize their flow in whether shoegazing, heavygazing, blissing out, or whatever we’re calling it this week on “The Sun Inside” and “One Way Through,” or finding their way to a particularly deadened meadow on “Trees,” or tripping the light hypnotic on “Dark Waves” just ahead of the closer. “Cold Fields” churns urgently in its 2:28 but remains spacious, and everywhere The Black Heart Death Cult go, they remain liquefied in their sound, like a seemingly amorphous thing that nonetheless manages to hold its shape despite outside conditions. Whatever form they take, then, they are themselves, and Sonic Mantras emphasizes how yet-underappreciated they are in emerging from the ever-busy Aussie underground.
Tetra is the third long-player from Milwaukee’s Shogun, and in addition to the 10-minute “Delta,” which marries blues gargle with YOB slow-gallop before jamming out across its 10-minute span, it brings straight-shooter fuzz rockers like “Gravitas,” the someone-in-this-band-listened-to-Megadeth-in-the-’90s-and-that’s-okay beginnings of “Buddha’s Palm/Aviary” and likewise crunch of “Axiom” later, but also the quiet classic progressive rock of “Gone Forever,” and the more patient coming together of psychedelia and harder-hitting movement on closer “Maximum Ray.” Somewhat undercut by a not-raw-but-not-bursting-with-life production, pieces like “Buddha’s Palm/Aviary,” which gives over to a sweeter stretch of guitar in its second movement, and “Vertex/Universal Pain Center,” which in its back end brings around that YOB influence again and puts it to good use, are outwardly complex enough to put the lie to the evenhandedness of the recording. There’s more going on in Tetra than it first seems, and the more you listen, the more you find.
Keeping up with Nadja has proven nigh on impossible over the better part of the last two decades, as the Berlin-by-way-of-Toronto duo have issued over 25 albums in 19 years, plus splits and live offerings and digital singles and oh my goodness I do believe I have the vapors that’s a lot of Nadja. For those of us who flit in and out like the dilletantes we ultimately are, Luminous Rot‘s aligning Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff with Southern Lord makes it an easy landmark, but really most of what the six-cut/48-minute long-player does is offer a reminder of the vital experimentalism the lazy are missing in the first place. The consuming, swelling drone of “Cuts on Your Hands,” blown-out sub-industrialism of “Starres,” hook of the title-track and careful-what-you-wish-for anchor riff of “Fruiting Bodies” — these and the noisily churning closer “Dark Inclusions” are a fervent argument in Nadja‘s favor as being more than a sometimes-check-in kind of band, and for immediately digging into the 43-minute single-song album Seemannsgarn, which they released earlier this year. So much space and nothing to lose.
Welcome to punishment as a primary consideration. Indianapolis death-doom four-piece hold back the truly crawling fare until “Perverted Reflection,” which is track three of the total seven on their debut full-length, Upon a Throne of Jackals, but by then the extremity has already shown its unrepentant face across the buried-alive “Final Spasms of the Drowned” and the oldschool death metal of “The Altar.” Centerpiece “Invert Every Throne” calls to mind Conan in its nod, but Shroud of Vulture are more about rawness than sheer largesse in tone, and their prone-to-blasting style gives them an edge there and in “Halo of Tarnished Light,” which follows. The closing pair of “Concealing Rabid Laughter” and “Stone Coffin of Existence” both top seven minutes and offset grueling tension with grueling release, but it’s the stench of decay that so much defines Upon a Throne of Jackals, as though somebody rebuilt Sunlight Studio brick for brick in Hoosier Country. Compelling and filthy in kind.
Towards Atlantis Lights, When the Ashes Devoured the Sun
Ultra-grueling, dramatic death-doom tragedies permeate the second full-length, When the Ashes Devoured the Sun, from UK-based four-piece Towards Atlantis Lights, with vocalist/keyboardist Kostas Panagiotou and guitarist Ivan Zara at the heart of the compositions while bassist Riccardo Veronese and drummer Ivano Olivieri assure the impact that coincides with the cavernous procession matches in scope. The follow-up to 2018’s Dust of Aeons (review here), this six-track collection fosters classicism and modern apocalyptic vibes alike, and whether raging or morose, its dirge atmosphere remains firm and uncompromised. Heavy lumber for heavy hearts. The kind of doom that doesn’t look up. That doesn’t mean it’s not massive in scope — it is, even more than the first record — just that nearly everything it sees is downward. If there’s hope, it is a vague thing, lost to periphery. So be it.
It has been said on multiple occasions that “space is the place.” The curiously-capitalized Colorado outfit ASTRAL CONstruct would seem to live by this ethic on their debut album, Tales of Cosmic Journeys, unfurling as they do eight flowing progressions of instrumental slow-CGI-of-the-planets pieces that are more plotted in their course than jams, but feel built from jams just the same. Raw in its production and mix, and mastered by Kent Stump of Wo Fat, there’s enough atmosphere to let the lead guitar breathe, certainly, and to sustain life in general even on “Jettisoned Adrift in the Space Debris,” and the image evoked by “Hand Against the Solar Winds” feels particularly inspired given that song’s languid roll. The record starts and ends in cryogenic sleep, and if upon waking we’re transported to another place and another time, who knows what wonders we might see along the way. ASTRAL CONstruct‘s exploration would seem to be just beginning here, but their “Cosmos Perspective” is engaging just the same.
Vienna-based sludgedrivers TarLung were last heard from with 2017’s Beyond the Black Pyramid (discussed here), and Architect continues the progression laid out there in melding vocal extremity and heavy-but-not-too-heavy-to-move riffing. It might seem like a fine line to draw, and it is, and that only makes songs like “Widow’s Bane” and “Horses of Plague” all the more nuanced as their deathly growls and severe atmospheres mesh with what in another context might just be stoner rock groove. Carcass circa the criminally undervalued Swansong, Six Feet Under. TarLung manage to find a place in stoner sludge that isn’t just Bongzilla worship, or Bongripper worship, or Bong worship. I’m not sure it’s worship at all, frankly, and I like that about it as the closing title-track slow-moshes my brain into goo.
Somewhere in the great mystical expanse between Kalispell, Montana, and Kansas City, Missouri, two practicioners of the riffly dark arts meet on a field of battle. Wizzerd come packing the 19-minute acoustic-into-heavy-prog-into-sitar-laced-jam-out “We Are,” as if to encompass that declaration in all its scope, while Merlin answer back with the organ-led “Merlin’s Bizarre Adventure” (21:51), all chug and lumber until it’s time for weirdo progressive fusion reggae and an ensuing Purple-tinged psych expansion. Who wins? I don’t know. Ripple Music in releasing it in the first place, I guess. Continuing the label’s influential split series(es), Turned to Stone Chapter III pushes well over the top in the purposes of both acts involved, and in that, it’s maybe less of a battle than two purveyors joining forces to weave some kind of Meteo down on the heads of all who might take them on. If you’ve think you’ve got the gift, they seem only too ready to test that out.
“Life Grinder” begins with a sample: “I don’t know if you need all that bass,” and the answer, “Oh, you need all that bass.” That’s already after “Sea Sick Six” has revealed the Montreal-based trio’s sans-guitar extremist sludge roll, and the three-piece seem only too happy to keep up the theme. Vocals are harsh, biting, grating, purposeful in their fuckall, and the whole 28-minute affair of Winterized is cathartic aural violence, except perhaps the interlude “666,” which is a quiet moment between “Broken Bones” and “Black Snail Volcano,” which finally seems to just explode in its outright aggression, nod notwithstanding. A slowed down Ramones cover — reinventing “Pet Sematary” as “Red Sematary” — has a layer of spoken chanting vocals layered in and closes out, but the skin has been peeled so far back by then and Seum have doused so much salt onto the wounds that even Bongzilla might cringe. The low-end-only approach only makes it more punishing and more punk rock at the same time. Fucking mean.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 20th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Last we heard from Indianapolis’ Apostle of Solitude was in Nov. 2020, and at that point, their fifth long-player was announced for release this Spring. But even then, the actual trajectory was somewhat vague, so having confirmation now that they’re currently in the studio — Russian Recording in Bloomington, IN — with bass and drums done, guitars in progress and vocals to follow gives a better sense of the timeline for when the thing actually shows up. Let’s figure if they’re recording this week or on weekends, they have a master by the July 4 holiday. That’s an optimistic estimate on my part, and pure speculation, but without knowing how long/when they’re in the studio, it seems like a reasonable estimate allowing for the inevitable back and forth of mixing, finalizing the recording, artwork and so on.
Three months promo is standard, HOWEVER, this is 2021, and the entire universe wants to print vinyl and there isn’t nearly enough infrastructure to do so — anyone want to open a plant with me? — so there are delays there. Five months from May puts us in October at the earliest. Apostle of Solitude‘s 2018 LP, From Gold to Ash (review here), came out in February of that year. It might honestly be Feb. 2022 before this one shows up.
Whenever it happens — and hey, Apostle Dudes, anytime you want to send me a master early, that’s certainly cool on my end — the four-piece’s fifth record will only be welcome when it shows up. In the meantime, bassist Mike Naish just put out a record with the more deathly-doom outfit Shroud of Vulture through Wise Blood Records and Transylvanian Recordings. It’s called Upon a Throne of Jackals and is delightfully brutal.
Apostle of Solitude offered the below mini-update from the studio on social media:
We have been so focused on tracking album # 5 that we forgot to post about it. We are once again working with Russian Recording for Cruz Del Sur Music in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. Mike and Corey are are done tracking bass and drums…Chuck and Steve are busy tracking guitars. Vocals are up next…
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE is: Corey Webb – drums Chuck Brown – guitars, vocals Steve Janiak – guitars, vocals Mike Naish – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 19th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
More background than details in the below, but take it to heart one way or the other that there will be a new Apostle of Solitude record out next year. The Indianapolis doomers join an increasingly crowded field of those with post-2020 plans, but you’ll note there’s no real mention of concrete touring notions or anything like that. We don’t even have a name for a record or confirmation that it’s done/mixed/mastered, so there’s a ways to go one assumes before things like cover art and songs start showing up.
But if you needed something today to be stoked about, this should qualify, and if it doesn’t, the band’s 2018 LP, From Gold to Ash (review here), is streaming at the bottom of the post, and once you revisit that, you’ll be stoked anyway, so there you go.
That record, incidentally, has been on my phone since I first heard it. I change shit on my phone all the time depending on what I need to be hearing in a given week. Very few albums last there for anything close to a stretch. It’s one more sign among many that it was a special record that I remain basically unwilling to part with it even as I look forward to what they’ve got coming next.
From the PR wire:
Apostle of Solitude – Spring 2021!
Formed in 2004 by vocalist-guitarist Chuck Brown (The Gates of Slumber) with heavy hitter Corey Webb on drums, Apostle of Solitude released their debut ‘Sincerest Misery’(via Eyes Like Snow) in 2008 and the follow-up ‘Last Sunrise’ in 2010 (via Profound Lore as well as Eyes Like Snow) before adding vocalist-guitarist Steve Janiak (Devil to Pay) in 2011 and then Mike Naish (Shroud of Vulture, Astral Mass) in 2015. The band released their epic third album ‘Of Woe and Wounds’ for Cruz Del Sur Music in 2014, followed by multiple tours across the US and triumphant 2016 European tour.
Apostle of Solitude’s most recent album, 2018’s “From Gold To Ash”, was widely heralded by fans and critics alike as both the band’s best work to date, and a defining moment in American doom metal. Largely defined by the heartfelt and emotive dual vocals of Brown and Janiak, ‘From Gold To Ash’ covers a wide spectrum of heavy, from raging instrumentals to introspective guitar duos, monolithic doom riffs and reflective, melodic heartache. In support of that album, the band embarked on a southern US tour (with labelmates Pale Divine), their second European tour (including the Hammer of Doom festival at the revered Posthalle Wurzburg in Germany, and headlining the Doom Over Vienna festival in Austria), a special performance at the Maryland Doom festival, and a handful of Midwest US dates.
While 2020 saw a worldwide pandemic that dramatically altered many aspects of life around the globe, the band waited, and then implemented appropriate safety measures in order to continue writing their next album. This, the band’s fifth full length (and yet to be titled) album, is set to be released spring of 2021, again on Italy’s Cruz Del Sur Music, and available on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats. As a nod to the tradition set by the band’s prior works, the album is set to be recorded at Russian Recording in Bloomington, IN with studio mastermind Mike Bridavsky behind the board. Following the release of the album, and once the world is safe to do so, Apostle of Solitude plans to tour again domestically and abroad in support of the new album.
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE is: Corey Webb – drums Chuck Brown – guitars, vocals Steve Janiak – guitars, vocals Mike Naish – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 5th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
This has been a really awful year for a lot of things and a really good year for death-doom. Tomorrow, preorders go live for the debut EP from Mother of Graves, titled In Somber Dreams, and even though it’s set to release in January, the four-song offering is prefaced by the streaming track “The Urn” that you can hear now at the bottom of this post, and, well, it’s a pretty efficient mood-capture when it comes to the general state of restless melancholia that has complemented the enduring, teeth-grind of anxiety that has me so badly needing to go to the dentist. Also I have a headache.
Anyone wanna talk about politics? The pandemic? The politics of the pandemic? No? Me neither.
Anyone want to check out some cool new tunes? That’s more like it.
Wise Blood Records sent the following down the PR wire, but before I turn it over to the blue text, I just want to say I remember fondly guitarist Chris Morrison‘s former outfit, Bulletwolf, and still have the pint glass they were kind enough to send me with their logo on it. R.I.P. Worm. He was a nice guy in all my dealings with him.
Okay, here goes:
MOTHER OF GRAVES – In Somber Dreams – Wise Blood Records
Melodic death/doom necromancers Mother of Graves conjure old school gloom from their haunting grounds in Indianapolis, IN. Fans of early Katatonia, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Cloak, and Khemmis will make life-long blood-pacts with Mother of Graves’ bleak atmosphere and pitch-black Gothicism. Originally conceived in 2016 by founding guitarist Chris Morrison (Harakiri, Bulletwolf), Mother of Graves was spawned from tragedy as a cathartic outlet.
“The initial inspiration followed the passing of one of my best friends and bandmates in the spring of 2016,” Morrison shares. “I was just in a really dark place for a while after he died and there were certain bands and albums that really hit home at that time and musically captured the grief I was feeling. One album specifically was Katatonia’s Sounds of Decay EP. I always liked that EP, but the way I heard it changed after that. I knew my next musical project had to be something that had a similar vibe. I wanted Mother of Graves to sound like loss and despair.”
Named after a mythological Latvian protector of cemeteries (Kapu m?te), Mother of Graves honors the fallen with poignant heaviness. Morrison’s moving riffs are barbed with thorns and painted with dried blood. Vocalist Brandon Howe (Obscene, Summon the Destroyer) pens gripping lyrics delivered with some of the genre’s most evocative gutturals. Bassist/guitarist Ben Sandman (Harakiri) recorded the album with the deft hand of a mortician preserving beauty. While Morrison acknowledges aesthetic nods to the pioneering Peaceville Records sound, Mother of Graves are far from an easily-defined homage act.
“I basically just tell people we play sad, bleak, melodic, death/doom metal that probably doesn’t sound how you think it is going to sound if you haven’t heard us,” Morrison offers.
It was Mother of Graves’ authenticity and coffin-velvet melodies that first caught the ear of Wise Blood Records. The label eagerly signed the band to release their debut EP, In Somber Dreams. You can also add iconic Swedeath musician and engineer Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Bloodbath) to the litany of the band’s ever-growing supporters. Swanö mastered In Somber Dreams and was immediately entranced by their tomb-dwelling ambience and memorable songwriting. The band’s lyrical focus and vision elevates their stirring compositions even further.
“The most prevalent themes would be the human condition, grief, and loss—whether it be personal or just an overall feeling towards the state in which we exist amplified and twisted into wild fictions,” Howe reveals. “I like to paint really bleak pictures with words, almost like telling a short story,” Howe continues. “Something to invoke the feelings one would get when they’re really immersed in a well-written book. The instruments alone already paint such a monolithic picture of sorrow and despair, so the lyrics flow pretty naturally once I’ve settled into that zone.”
Mother of Graves crawled from sealed sepulchers to share their first songs during the global wreckage of a pandemic. But just like the bittersweet tone of their songs, Morrison offers a glimmer of hope beyond the bleak horizon: More songs are on the way, with a full-length record planned. Until then, enter the somber dreamscape of Mother of Graves and meet the new guardians of old school Melodic Death/Doom.
Tracklisting: 1. In Somber Dreams 2. Nameless Burial 3. The Urn 4. Deliverance
Mother of Graves is: Brandon Howe – Vocals Chris Morrison – Guitars Ben Sandman – Guitars TJ Hunt – Bass Don Curtis – Drums
All music by Chris Morrison and Ben Sandman All lyrics by Brandon Howe Produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Sandman Mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound Album cover artwork, design, and layout by Magnus LeGrand
Posted in audiObelisk on September 11th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Indiana-based two-piece The Heavy Co. will issue their new single Shelter on Sept. 18. One doesn’t hear all that often from the Lafayette, Indiana, two-piece, but it seems to me that if you’ve got Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless and Golden Void and general Lord of Guitar-ness fame contributing a solo to a track, well, that’s probably worth putting together a release of some sort. The three-minute song is the second new offering the band has had since reconfiguring as the duo of guitarist/vocalist Ian Daniel and drummer Jeff Kaleth, arriving behind April’s “Phoenix” single (posted here), which arrived concurrent to a compilation of material from the band’s original run during 2008-2014. They’ve since also put out a live track from a gig in 2014, but in terms of new music, it’s just been “Phoenix” and now “Shelter,” which, if you’re paying attention, would be enough for a 7″ or even a cassingle if they were feeling snazzy and wanted to put the art by Ohio-based artist Chad Wells to work.
Whatever they end up doing with it in terms of a physical pressing, if anything, “Shelter” isn’t the first time The Heavy Co. have flirted with country influences by a longshot, but Daniel‘s vocals here — backed with low-mixed harmonies by Tom Dean — really underscore the point. The track unfolds across a void-of-pretense three-minute stretch, rolling easily and smoothly through its initial verses before giving over its last minute to Mitchell‘s solo. There seem to be two layers of guitar working there, and I’m not sure if that’s Daniel adding his own accompanying lead track or if Mitchell can just magically play two guitars at the same time — you’d have to believe it, given the breadth of his work — but one way or the other, it’s an organic fit with the produced-in-lockdown single, which would seem to derive its title more from “shelter in place” than “Gimme Shelter” or any other such usage. Fair enough for the times in which it was made, which were these times, which are hard times. You take shelter where you can get it.
Now then. With the official release a week out, here’s the premiere of “Shelter” for your streaming perusal. Some more info follows as sent along by the band.
Please enjoy:
The Heavy Co. – Shelter (Ft. Isaiah Mitchell)
Produced by: THC Guitar Solo : Isaiah Mitchell Extra Vocals: Tom Dean Mastered by: Ed Littman Artwork by: Chad Wells
Released: September 18, 2020 DPR Records Indianapolis, IN
The Heavy Co. is the long running Neo-Psychedelic Stoner Rock studio project of Ian Daniel and Jeff Kaleth. Their latest single, Shelter, features a blistering solo from Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless, Black Crowes).
Recorded remotely in their private studios, this is the first track THC has released in the isolation caused by Covid 19. The title is a direct reflection of the situation, contrasting with the theme of internal and external exploration of reality.
Well, okay. Last time Apostle of Solitude posted a video — about a month and a half ago, if that — it was for the track “Grey Farewell” (posted here) from 2018’s From Gold to Ash (review here), and I guess because I was feeling all clever and I like reading into things what may or may not actually be there, I said it was the band’s way of saying goodbye to that album while beginning to undertake the process of putting together their next one, which is set to be recorded this Fall.
So obviously there would be another video after that, right? There would almost have to be.
The two clips are also basically opposites. “Grey Farewell” was a quarantine video, with the four members of Apostle of Solitude recording their individual parts at home during the COVID-19 lockdown — which, make no fucking mistake, should still be going on every bit as intensely as it was in April — whereas “My Heart is Leaving Here” is live footage. Obviously archival, it pulls scenes not only from the band’s home turn at Black Circle Brewing in Indianapolis, but from their last European tour, which included stops in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and indeed, more Germany. Germany loves its doom. We already knew that.
Am I bummed that I said they were done with From Gold to Ash and then along comes “My Heart is Leaving Here” just a couple weeks later? Shit no. I’m happy to have an excuse today to listen to Apostle of Solitude and one more chance to tell you to hear that album if you didn’t yet and that you should be looking forward to the next one half as much as I am, which is a great deal to be certain. Like a lot. I don’t want to say an unhealthy amount, but yeah.
Enjoy the video, and I mean that as an imperative:
Apostle of Solitude, “My Heart is Leaving Here” official video
Apostle of Solitude’s music video for “My Heart is Leaving Here” from the album “From Gold to Ash” available from Cruz Del Sur Music. https://www.cruzdelsurmusic.com
Filmed by Jason Rich Additional footage by Melissa Watt Edits: S. Janiak live footage from: Black Circle Brewing, Indianapolis Indiana Knubbel Marburg, Marburg, Germany Bobble Café, Lomme, France ELPEE Café, Deinze, Belgium MTS LPs and CD, Oldenburg, Germany Little Devil Bar, Tilburg, Netherlands Bambi Galore, Hamburg, Germany Posthalle Wurzburg HAMMER OF DOOM XIII, Wurzburg, Germany Horst, Saarbrucken, Germany
Recorded by Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording, Bloomington, IN Mixed by Mike Bridavsky Mastered by Collin Jordan at The Boiler Room Chicago, Il
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE is: Corey Webb – drums Chuck Brown – guitars, vocals Steve Janiak – guitars, vocals Mike Naish – bass
