Two underrated progressive and aggressive acts — that’s Berlin trio Earth Ship and the five-piece Rising from Copenhagen — will head out together this Fall on a five-date run through Germany for which I’m thrilled to have The Obelisk among the presenters. From Earth Ship‘s individualized approach to sludge rock and Rising‘s grown affinity for a prog-metal approach to doom, each band offers something different from the other, and yet they should still make for an excellent and complementary pairing. It may not be the longest tour ever, but it’s bound to give German crowds something different from everything else happening as we head toward the end of the year.

Both bands are coming off 2016 releases — Earth Ship released Hollowed through Napalm and Rising had Oceans into Their Graves out on Indisciplinarian — and by astounding coincidence, both band will have new albums out in October. I know! What are the chances? Anyway, I know not everyone who reads this either is in Germany now or is going to be there in November, but even if you’re elsewhere and you get to check out either Rising or Earth Ship on the Bandcamp players below and maybe dig something you haven’t hear before, that’s still a win as far as I’m concerned. Either way, this tour seems like it’s going to be something special with the two new albums hitting around the same time and both groups being so much on their own respective wavelength.

If you do get to a show, consider me jealous. The PR wire has more info on the impending records and more background on the bands. As well as the dates, which, you know, you definitely want in there.

Dig it:

EARTH SHIP ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES FOR THE FALL OF 2018!

WITH VERY SPECIAL GUESTS RISING!

Doom and sludge heavyweights EARTH SHIP have announced a bunch of German tour dates for the Fall of 2018! The Berlin-based trio has teamed up with Denmark’s RISING, both bands are set to release their brand new records this October and will introduce them live on stage.

Ever since their inception in 2010, EARTH SHIP have built their reputation in the vast field of the stoner, doom and sludge underground scene as one of the most relentless and heavy-hitting live bands out there. With their thunderous blend of sludgy riffs, bluesy leads, virulent vocals and a massive dose of both groove and humour, vocalist Jan Oberg, his wife Sabine (bass) and Sebastian Grimberg (drums) have taken EARTH SHIP to the stages of Desertfest, Stoned From The Underground or Pelagic Fest, and toured with bands like RED FANG, TORCHE, CROWBAR or VOIVOD.

After 3 albums on Pelagic, the band signed with Napalm Records for the release of their 4th and critically acclaimed studio album „Hollowed“ in 2016. But the alliance didn’t last long, and the band returned to the welcoming arms at Pelagic for album #5: Resonant Sun.

Resonant Sun will be released on October 5th, perfect in time for a German headline tour with support by very special guests Denmark’s RISING in November!

Epic metal five-piece RISING, formed in 2008, have just finished their fourth full-length album which will be released this October on Indisciplinarian. In 2016, the band released their third album ‘Oceans Into Their Graves’, which was followed by numerous shows all over Europe with bands alike Gold or Orm including festival appearances at such as Copenhell or Roskilde Festival. With their exciting mixture of all that is heavy, RISING own a very special trademark of modern metal sounds while retaining their unique blend of the 70’s and 80’s classic Heavy Metal with the heavier aspects of the more recent alternative and progressive variations of the genre. Their upcoming brand new record will showcase the band’s diversity, musical talent, live power and RISING’s best album to date!

Teaming up with EARTH SHIP to tour both hotly anticipated records will surely please all fans of the Sludge, Doom and Heavy Metal. „We’re happy to return to Germany to play shows in November with the great Earth Ship in support of our forthcoming album!“ RISING comments. „We have some of most persistent and dedicated supporters in Germany, and it always kinda feels like coming home when touring there, as we’re always met with love and open arms. So, expect a fiery set of both new and older tunes and a band going for the throat…or thereabouts. We can’t wait, see you all in November!“

Make sure to catch this heavy package live on the following dates, presented by ALL NOIR, LEGACY, METAL.DE and THE OBELISK:

13.11.18 Hamburg – Fundbureau
14.11.18 Osnabrück – Bastard Club
15.11.18 Köln – Sonic Ballroom
16.11.18 Dresden – Loco
17.11.18 Berlin – Cassiopeia ( + Grim van Doom, Blacksmoker, Praise The Plague )

www.facebook.com/wearetheearthship
www.facebook.com/risingdk

Earth Ship, Hollowed (2016)

Rising, Oceans into Their Graves (2016)

Rainbow, Rising (1976)

Listening to the searing precision in Ritchie Blackmore‘s guitar, Ronnie James Dio‘s soaring voice, the powerful rhythmic thrust of Jimmy Bain on bass and Cozy Powell on drums and the grandiose flourish of Tony Carey‘s keys, Rainbow Rising sure sounds like the moment when heavy rock became heavy metal. Narratives are never so cut and dry, but this was an important transitional moment. Gone was psychedelia unless you were Hawkwind, and even heavy rock was fading out in favor of the nascent punk movement. Rainbow made their debut in 1975 with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (discussed here), and even between that album and this follow-up that arrived a year later on Polydor Records with the revamped lineup around Blackmore and Dio, one can hear that transition taking place. To boil it down to a track? Think of “Starstruck” on Rising and “Man on the Silver Mountain” from the preceding record. The two share a lot in common — big hook, big groove, etc. — but “Starstruck” is leaner, tighter, and true to the hard-clenched fist on the iconic Ken Kelly cover art, more aggressive. Both LPs were produced at least in part by Martin Birch, who would also work on 1978’s Long Live Rock and Roll, and it really does seem to have been a shift in vision (or at least a move closer to an initial vision) on the part of Blackmore driving the evolution of the band in this direction.

As to where Rising ultimately fits in the pantheon of heavy rock/metal, I don’t think there’s any question it’s one of the greatest albums ever released. From the opening charge of “Tarot Woman” with Carey‘s clarion keyboard intro to the swaggering crotch-thrust of “Run with the Wolf” down to the two side B epics, “Stargazer” — a blueprint that Dio would follow for the rest of his career as heavy metal’s greatest frontman in Black Sabbath and especially his own Dio band — and closer “Light in the Black,” it is a close-to-perfect execution of early metal. Yes, Sabbath, Zeppelin and Blue Cheer, Cream and Hendrix before them laid out the foundation — not to mention Blackmore‘s own work in Mk. II Deep Purple — but even in the three-minute bass-led stomp of “Do You Close Your Eyes” one can hear Rainbow splintering away from the bluesy vibe on which heavy rock was founded and toward a graceful execution that over the next couple years would continue to take shape as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Again, narratives are never so cut and dry, and lest we forget that Judas Priest also issued Sad Wings of Destiny in 1976, that Sabbath were still roaming the countryside and that soon enough the willfully-ungraceful Motörhead would kick dirt in everybody‘s face with the raw power of their execution and volume, but Rising is nonetheless a pivotal document without which the NWOBHM and the formative work of bands like Iron Maiden, Angel Witch and Saxon simply wouldn’t have existed in the shape it did. Of course, by the time those acts came around, Rainbow would be onto exercising different influences toward a more commercialized sound — they never put out two records with the same lineup — but that doesn’t change how essential a moment Rising continues to represent. Hell, listen to the guitar, bass and drum gallop at the start of “Light in the Black.” It’s the roots of thrash spreading out. Rainbow may have been deeply (and purply!) informed by the heavy rock of the earlier portion of the ’70s, but Rising was when they took that and remade it in their image, and 41 years after the fact, its ongoing relevance is inarguable.

Powell and Carey would stick around for Long Live Rock and Roll, but Bain was out — a mistake on Blackmore‘s part not keeping this band together — and replaced by Bob Daisley, and that 1978 final installment in their initial trilogy would also mark the final collaboration between Blackmore and Dio, whose styles were complementary in a manner few guitarists and vocalists have ever been. Dio, who had come from boogie rockers Elf at just the right moment to catch hold of Blackmore‘s attention when he was disaffected by where Deep Purple were headed, went on to proffer further metal majesties in Black Sabbath and, from 1983 until his passing in May 2010, he’d work with the Dio band to inscribe a singular legacy — his periodic returns to Sabbath and later Heaven and Hell didn’t hurt either. Rainbow continued on with Down to Earth in 1979, Blackmore bringing in frontman Graham Bonnet and following a tumultuous course of change through the middle of the ’80s before being put to rest for the next decade. Blackmore, having reunited and split again with Deep Purple, did another run with Rainbow before founding the Renaissance-themed Blackmore’s Night, and in 2015 resurrected the band again for limited shows, swearing off the possibility of new material as he had once sworn off playing rock and roll entirely. They have live dates booked for June in the UK.

Whatever may or may not come of that, Rainbow‘s Rising stands among the most classic of classics. One could and probably should and probably somewhere in the world — looking at you, Britain — does teach a two-semester college course on everything this incarnation of the group had to offer, and it’s my sincere hope you’ve enjoyed the chance to revisit their work.

Thanks for reading.

—

Working late today. Speaking of mistakes. I had to miss some time earlier this week picking up The Patient Mrs. at the airport as she was returning from a conference in Texas, so decided it was best if I stick around the office for a few extra hours to make up the time. It was, of course, the wrong decision, but it’s quiet here after everyone leaves and if you actually have work to do, easy enough to get it done. The question is “if,” but I always manage to find a way to keep myself busy.

Hope you had a good week. As I think I noted last Friday or maybe the Friday before, I’ve been dealing with some uptick in my general level of anxiety lately. Part of it is the precariousness of my work situation — I’m on a year-long contract that expires in June that may or may not be picked up for permanent hire. Part of it is probably related to my food intake — I don’t eat much these days that isn’t either salad or protein powder/bar-based. And part of it is “other,” but “other” of some substance. I’m healthy, at least physically.

Probably healthier than I’ve ever been, if one wants to go by the totally fucked way in which those things are generally measured. But yes, very anxious. I’ve made a mantra of “It’s okay it’s okay it’s okay” that I repeat to myself on the regular, to varying effectiveness. I’d like to go to a doctor and get some of those chill-the-fuck-out pills I keep hearing such good things about, to help carry me over for a little bit as other medication has in the past for depressive issues. Never a permanent solution, but something to get you over a hump when you need it. I feel like I might need it, and I think The Patient Mrs. would agree, going by her nigh-on-frantic search to find me a new primary care physician, which I haven’t really had since we moved north from New Jersey three years ago. Every doctor I’ve been to up north, on one level or another, has pretty much been an asshole. The guy who took care of my foot at least got the job as “done” as it was going to get, but he did so while hitting on my wife, so yeah, still counts as asshole.

At least baseball’s back on.

Next week is frickin’ packed. Embarrassingly so. Still some stuff to shake out, but here’s what’s in the notes as of now:

Mon.: Review of the new Solace tape, video from Black Mirrors, news on Freak Valley, My Dying Bride and more.
Tue.: Maybe a Mothership review/track premiere, otherwise a Death Alley review, plus new Shadow Witch video, news, etc.
Wed.: Review/track premiere for the new Wounded Giant, video from Six Organs of Admittance.
Thu.: Review/track premiere from Green Meteor, video from Dandy Brown, announcement from No Man’s Valley.
Fri.: Review/premiere for the new The Devil and the Almighty Blues, plus whatever else comes down the wire between now and then.

As I said, packed.

I’ve also slated the Quarterly Review for the end of this month. It’ll run the week of March 27 through March 31. I might add a sixth day again, depending on what comes together, but I’ve already had it in the planning stage since the start of February, so yeah, it’s well in motion. Lot of good stuff in there, and I’ll have another batch of Radio Adds before then as well.

Speaking of the Radio: it’s been on the backup drive all week, as you may or (more likely) may not have noticed. The Raspberry Pi that hosts the main server shit the bed and with work I just haven’t had time to reinstall the operating system as I need to do. It’s on my weekend agenda, but so is traveling to Connecticut for The Patient Mrs.‘ mom’s birthday dinner on Saturday, so it’ll very likely be Sunday before I get there. And then at least three more days to deal with how terribly I will have invariably fucked it up. Ah, the gently correcting tones of Slevin. I can hear them now as he directs to insert the SD card facing the right way, no doubt for a second, then a third time.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. From the lonely, empty office in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, I’m signing off. See you back here Monday for more good times, and in the interim, please check out the forum and (backup) radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

Like a prog metal Grand Magus, maybe? That might be a stretch, but there’s definitely a pump-your-fist aspect to Rising‘s new track “Old Jealousy,” especially in the chorus, that goes well beyond what the Danish outfit had on offer with their 2013 album, Abominor (streamed here). No wonder there’d be a different take on “Old Jealousy,” which heralds the April 29 arrival of Rising‘s third album, Oceans into Their Graves (on Indisciplinarian), since guitarist Jacob Krogholt rebuilt the band from a trio to a five-piece after Abominor came out, which, if you think about it, makes the three years between outings pretty impressive.

Either way, look for vocalist Morten Grønnegaard to make a standout impression on “Old Jealousy,” the animated video for which also doubles as a premiere for the artwork to Oceans into Their Graves, especially in the chorus to the track, which still has some shades of the post-Mastodonic feel of Rising‘s earlier outings — Abominor and its predecessor, 2011’s To Solemn Ash (streamed here) — but seems to immediately put an eye toward more complex arrangements between the guitars of Krogholt and Anders Bo Rasmussen to go with the tight churn in the bass of Bjarke Lassen and Martin Niemann‘s drums.

You can hear it for yourself and check out the aforementioned art in the video below, which comes followed by some more details about Oceans into Their Graves, courtesy of the PR wire.

Enjoy:

Rising, “Old Jealousy” artwork video

RISING Premieres Animated Artwork Video For “Old Jealousy”; Oceans Into Their Graves LP To See April Release Through Indisciplinarian

On April 29th, the arrival of Oceans Into Their Graves will be upon the masses digitally and on 180-gram black virgin vinyl through Indisciplinarian, with the vinyl being handled in the US as an official Earsplit Distro title. Prior titles are available via Indisiciplinarian’s webshop HERE and Earsplit Distro HERE.

In connection with the release of the new LP, RISING will play a release show in their native town of Copenhagen and will be preparing for additional shows before summer, as well as for the fall of 2016, where the band will tour both Scandinavia and mainland Europe. Stand by for additional audio samples, preorder links, album details, tour dates, and much more on RISING throughout the months ahead.

Oceans Into Their Graves Track Listing:
1. All Dirt
2. Burn Me Black
3. Old Jealousy
4. Blood Moon
5. The Anger
6. Coward Heart
7. Death Of A Giant
8. Killers Of The Mind
9. Waste Deep
10. The Night

RISING:
Morten Grønnegaard – vocals
Jacob Krogholt – guitars
Anders Bo Rasmussen – guitars
Bjarke Lassen – bass
Martin Niemann – drums

Rising on Thee Facebooks

Rising on Bandcamp

Indisciplinarian Records

Earsplit Distro

Just a few nights ago, Danish riff-crunchers Rising played their first show in more than two years. Last time we heard from them was January 2014, when they’d begun the writing process for their third album as the follow-up to 2013’s Abominor (streamed here) and 2011’s To Solemn Ash (streamed here). More than a corresponding two years later, that album — yet untitled — will see release in Spring 2016 via Indisciplinarian.

A shifting lineup seems to have been the cause of the delay, but whatever it took to get them back to this point, Rising have some more gigs booked in Denmark this month and the album to look forward to in the New Year. I hope I get to stream it.

Details follow, from the PR wire:

RISING Completes Work On Third Album And Prepares For First Shows In Over Two Years

Danish metal four-piece, RISING, has completed their new and forthcoming third album to be released in April 2016, as the band gears up for their first shows in over two years.

Formed in 2008, RISING, at that time a trio, quickly gained praise in the metal scene with their first two DIY EPs, then going on to build momentum with their To Solemn Ash debut LP in 2011 and the follow-up Abominor in 2013. Following the recordings of Abominor, the trio dissolved, and as the sole remaining member guitarist Jacob Krogholt has since then rebuilt the band with original drummer Martin Niemann, bass player Bjarke Kofoed and singer Morten Grønnegaard.

The new RISING lineup entered the studio in August and September to record the band’s third album with producer Jacob Bredahl (By The Patient, The Kandidate, etc.), who also mixed the effort, while Brad Boatright (Nails, Converge, etc.) has overseen the mastering. The yet untitled album consists of ten songs, still undeniably RISING in its crushing heaviness, firm songwriting and intricate arrangements, while Grønnegaard with his more melodic vocals lends a more classic metal vibe to the band. The album will be released via Indisciplinarian in April and will be backed by touring in their native Denmark and abroad.

For now, RISING is preparing for four Danish shows in November, which marks the band’s first live appearances since May 2013. The shows will consist of primarily new material along with a couple of oldies. As the new album includes intricate guitar parts arranged for two guitarists, RISING will be joined at the shows by their good friend and guitarist extraordinaire Anders Bo Rasmussen, formerly of A Kid Herafter and Sygdom.

RISING Live 2015:
11/13/2015 Stengade – Copenhagen, DK w/ Galvano
11/27/2015 Radar – Aarhus, DK w/ By The Patient
11/28/2015 Ved Amagerbanen 9 – Copenhagen, DK w/ By The Patient
11/29/2015 Templet – Lyngby DK @ Black Christmas w/ Redwood Hill

RISING’s first three releases, the self-titled debut EP from 2009, the Legacy Of Wolves single from 2010 and the band’s debut album To Solemn Ash from 2011 are now also a part of the Indisciplinarian catalog and available digitally on all relevant platforms, with the first two DIY releases having only been available on Bandcamp until now. Digital orders can be placed via Bandcamp HERE and the physical formats are available via Indisiciplinarian’s webshop HERE. In the US, To Solemn Ash and Abominor are available via Earsplit Distro HERE.

http://www.rising.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/risingdk
http://www.indisciplinarian.com
http://www.facebook.com/indisciplinarian
http://www.indisciplinarian.bandcamp.com
http://www.earsplitdistro.com

Rising, Abominor (2013)

All I know is that when Rising‘s third record is done, sometime this year, if I’m fortunate enough to be able to stream it in full as I did their 2011 debut, To Solemn Ash (streaming here), and 2013’s follow-up, Abominor (streaming here), I’ll have to use a different band photo with it, because the Danish big-tone sludgers are set to premiere a whole new lineup for their forthcoming outing. That’s a ways off yet, since they’ve just started writing and Abominor only came out about two months ago, but still, it’s good to know they’ve got something in the works.

The PR wire has words for your eyes:

RISING Kicks Off 2014 With Songwriting For Next Album; Band Forming New Lineup

Danish epic sludge act, RISING, had a turbulent 2013, writing, recording and releasing their second album, Abominor, amidst losing two out of three members and leaving remaining member and main composer Jacob Krogholt to reconsider the band’s future.

Since the departure of vocalist/bassist Henrik Hald and drummer Jacob Johansen in July, Krogholt has regrouped with the band’s original drummer Martin Niemann, while forming his own label, Indisciplinarian, to release Abominor this past November; a grim, aggressive album adding punk and crust-influenced elements to the band’s already inherent traits of heaviness, epic feel and melodic sense as heard on their previous releases including the debut album, To Solemn Ash. No shows will be played in direct support of Abominor as Krogholt and Niemann — the core of a yet-to-be-complete new lineup — has focused solely on writing new material for RISING’s third album. The duo has just completed demos for five new tracks, and has a plethora of additional riffage and ideas penned for exploration over the coming months of songwriting.

RISING is to complete the new lineup, with tryouts for a new vocalist and bassist looming, and plans to be back on the road and recording the new album with the new personnel will take shape for the second half of 2014. Meanwhile Krogholt will be busy with other new Indisciplinarian releases including the new album from noise rock duo Fossils along with a new Krogholt-related metallic outfit yet to revealed.

Until the new era of RISING hits the road again and new material find its way unto tape and into the public sphere, the Abominor LP and the band’s previous releases can be streamed via their Bandcamp. The Abominor 12″ LP can be obtained by European customers via Indisciplinarian RIGHT HERE, while Earsplit Distro is the sole North American outlet for the album, mongering the album HERE. The LP is constructed out of 180-gram black vinyl with a heavy inner sleeve and limited to three hundred copies worldwide.

http://www.facebook.com/risingdk
http://www.rising.bandcamp.com
http://www.indisciplinarian.com
http://www.facebook.com/indisciplinarian
http://www.indisciplinarian.bandcamp.com
http://www.earsplitdistro.com

Rising, Abominor (2013)

Copenhagen trio Rising made their full-length debut in 2011 on Exile on Mainstream with the hard-hitting To Solemn Ash. The album (streamed here) found itself embroiled in post-Mastodon semi-technical tonal heft, but where Rising really distinguished themselves was in their ability to lock down a galloping pace, and its precisely that metallic ideology that arrives most developed on their 38-minute second outing, Abominor, which is released through their own Indisciplinarian imprint today, Nov. 4.

Whether it’s the build-into-full-run of “Vengeance is Timeless” or the classically punkish charge of “Suffering Nameless,” Rising also have stripped down the production some from what it was their last time out, and where To Solemn Ash was big and pounding, Abominor takes a more natural-sounding approach. This is well-suited to the gruff vocals of bassist Henrik Hald — who along with drummer Jacob Johansen has since left the band, only to have guitarist Jacob Krogholt rejoined by original drummer Martin Niemann.

If there was friction in the band during the writing and recording, Abominor hardly shows it. Though it’s less concerned with melody than was its predecessor, and one might read clues to some imbalance in various parts if one tries really, really hard, the harmonized vocals in “The Hills Below” and the driving stomp of opener “The Disdain” sound no less vital than did Rising their last time out. If anything, the rougher-hewn production dirties up their aesthetic a bit and makes album-centerpiece “Leech” all the more vicious, while also adding a more individualized feel.

It’s up in the air where Krogholt and Niemann might take Rising from here, but Abominor (released in a 180 gram LP edition of 300) serves both as a summation of what this lineup was able to accomplish and as a potential clue to what might come next. Please find the full album on the player below, followed by some commentary from Krogholt, and enjoy:

Rising, Abominor (2013)

[mp3player width=480 height=350 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=rising-abominor.xml]

Jacob Krogholt on Abominor:

So this is the new RISING album Abominor streaming here at The Obelisk. It’s the second album from the band (after an EP and a 7”), the last from this particular lineup and the first release on my newly formed INDISCIPLINARIAN. Confused? Explanation: The album is the last with the lineup that also recorded our first album To Solemn Ash and the Legacy of Wolves 7″. In the time from after the first album and up to the recording of the new album, we grew apart on several levels, and after the recordings, the other two members left the band. Nonetheless we managed to do this last album together, which I’m damn proud of.

Abominor is a somewhat harsher and more aggressive album than TSA, but it’s still very much RISING. It’s coming out as the first release on my label INDISCIPLINARIAN, so I’m kinda multitasking here! The label will put out a couple of awesome releases next year as well.

As for RISING, it’s NOT the end. I’m continuing the band with our original drummer Martin Niemann, with whom I formed the band back in 2008. We’re writing new stuff at rapid speed, it feels and sounds awesome, and we hope to complete a new line-up, record and perform live in the course of 2014. Until then, have a listen to the last output from the first chapter of RISING, which is the nine songs of Abominor. And many thanks to The Obelisk for putting it up — Hope you enjoy!

Rising on Thee Facebooks

Rising on Bandcamp

Indisciplinarian

Earsplit Distro

[NOTE: This giveaway is now over. Thanks to everyone who entered.]

You might recall a couple weeks ago when I posted the stream of Danish metallers Rising‘s debut full-length, To Solemn Ash, in its entirety. Well, the album got a pretty killer response from people saying they dug it, so I beat down the doors at Exile on Mainstream and begged for some copies to give away.

Lo and behold, sitting on my desk right now are a whopping FIVE digipak CDs, just waiting to go out the door. If you want one — and I think you do — just leave a comment to this post.

Now, if you’re wondering where the entry form is that I used for the last few times, I’ve spent this whole week deleting an onslaught of spam from the King Giant contest. Safe to say the robots know we’re here. So in an effort to avoid some of that, Slevin suggested comments instead.

You don’t have to say much of anything in the comment, just make sure your email is included with your name so I have a way to tell you you’ve won. If you want to leave your address there, you can, but if you’re iffy about it, that’s fine too. Doesn’t affect me picking the winner either way.

And if you need an immediate refresher course as to Rising‘s potent blend of heavy riffs and melodies, I’ll kindly refer you to the Bandcamp player below:

Winners will be picked next Wednesday, Feb. 15. Happy commenting, and thanks to Rising, Earsplit PR and Exile on Mainstream for making this happen. To Solemn Ash is available now. For more info, check out Rising‘s website or the label’s website.

The album came out last autumn in Europe, but is just today finally seeing its North American release, and to celebrate, Danish metallers Rising and their label, Exile on Mainstream, have been kind enough to let me stream the band’s debut full-length, To Solemn Ash, front to back. It’s a record that runs the gamut of modern heavy, sounding on a song like “Passage” as the poppiness of Mastodon‘s The Hunter might have had it not been so overly processed and reminding of Entombed‘s deathly grit on “The Vault.” The 10 tracks are catchy and heavy in equal proportion, balancing brutality and melody with precision and a feel that is neither amateurish nor contrived.

Interplay between bassist/vocalist Henrik W. Hald and guitarist/backing vocalist Jacob Krogholt is a central source of melody, the latter bolstering the rough, lower register of the former with harmonic shouting that fits well alongside the subtle complexity of the arrangements. Later track “Heir to Flames” works in Leviathan-esque acoustics, but by the time closer “Seven Riders” thunders its stop-start riff upside your skull, even the Torche-worthy chorus feels like one more tool serving to enhance the crushing sound.

Rounded out by Jacob Johansen‘s steady pulse on drums, Rising‘s first record is remarkably assured in its aesthetic, heavy as fuck and delivered with authority. Please feel free to find that out for yourself by streaming To Solemn Ash on the player below.

[mp3player width=460 height=320 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=rising.xml]

Introducing the band and the album, Hald says:

“Hello everyone! We are Rising, a heavy metal three-piece from Denmark. Back in October, we released our debut album To Solemn Ash in Europe via Exile On Mainstream. Now the time has come to make it available to the States. We are super excited about our album being released on another continent and hope to follow up with a tour one day. You can stream the entire album right here on The Obelisk. Enjoy and stay heavy on the heavy!”

Rising‘s To Solemn Ash is available now from Exile on Mainstream. For more info, check out the band’s site or the label’s store.