Methadone Skies Premiere Title-Track of New LP Colosseus
Posted in audiObelisk on March 24th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Romanian instrumental four-piece Methadone Skies will release their new album, Colosseus, April 4 via Haywire Records. It is their third full-length behind 2012’s Enter the Void (review here) and 2014’s Eclectic Electric, and it brings with it five new tracks that feed into a central linear flow across a 39-minute LP span, starting with the push-you-into-the-fray rush of opener “Muscufo” and continuing through the crunching, lumbering finish of closer “Master of Convulsions.” Between those two, on “The Elemental,” the brief, sub-three-minute centerpiece “Ruse” and the title-track, Methadone Skies situate themselves somewhere between heavy rock, psychedelia and progressive doom, playing to one side or the other through songs that are immersive without the need for verses or choruses, and which draw a complex picture of where the Timisoara-based band — guitarists Wehry and Casi, bassist Mihai and drummer Retea — are at seven years into their tenure.
Topped off with artwork by Tonino Bosco, Colosseus begins at a rush with the progressive tapping that starts “Moscufo,” and while much of what ensues will be more indebted to Karma to Burn, they never completely give up that sense of something deeper happening than a simple 
parade of riffs. By the time it’s three minutes in, “Moscufo” has established a back and forth between dense distorted roll and this airier type of noodling, and as interplay between the two guitars is marked out early as fair game, it becomes a distinguishing factor as Colosseus continues to play out through the flowing stretches of the nine-minute “The Elemental,” which balances post-rock and heavy low end thrust more than ably en route to a half-time-drummed drone-out, less contrasting tones than setting one behind the other to bolster its position, and into “Ruse.” The aforementioned center cut, the shortest at 2:55, is also the most spacious, bringing those post-rock elements to the fore as an interlude. One can’t help but wonder if it was given its title as a reference to the manner in which it lulls the listener into a false sense of security before the heft of the extended B-side tracks “Colosseus” and “Master of Convulsions” kick in, but if it’s delusion, it’s a pleasant one.
With such a peaceful stretch preceding — not to mention with its title — it falls on “Colosseus” to be the album’s most weighted offering, and for its first movement alone it indeed might be that, but as it moves past its initial thrust and chug, it shifts into a long stretch of open tones and far-back percussion that makes “Ruse” seem downright prescient, rather than a work of trickery. Thicker tones reemerge as it passes the halfway point and once again Wehry and Casi lead the winding course, but even as it comes to a fuzzy head past 10 minutes in, “Colosseus” holds true to its overlaid progginess, and in that way it very much represents the record as a whole, which takes a speedy victory lap in the beginnings of “Master of Convulsions,” before a more percussive and grooving break takes hold and sets the stage for the final build. Structurally similar to the title-track ultimately, “Master of Convulsions” is marked out by the massive slowdown in its second half, and while it’s not Methadone Skies‘ only intent with their third offering, clearly they didn’t want to let it end without leaving a crater behind. So be it.
Ahead of the April 4 release for Colosseus, I’m thrilled today to be hosting the premiere of the title-track. You can find it in the YouTube embed below.
Please enjoy:
Methadone Skies, “Colosseus”
Second reveal from our new album ,COLOSSEUS”, to be released on the 4th of April 2016 via HAYWIRE RECORDS.
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Consonance Studio Timisoara between August 2016 and January 2016.
