[Click play above to hear ‘Vero’ from Somali Yacht Club’s The Sea. Album is out Jan. 22 on Robustfellow Productions and Kozmik Artifactz.]

The second full-length from Lviv-based three-piece Somali Yacht Club, The Sea, would seem to speak more to a spirit of progressive melancholia than its predecessor, 2014’s The Sun (discussed here). This is despite the fact that the two records share in common deep-toned heavy psychedelic underpinnings and an overarching rhythmic fluidity. One could argue that it’s been four years and perhaps the Ukrainian trio of guitarist/vocalist Mez, bassist Artur and drummer Lesyk have grown as an outfit as a result of touring and appearing at notable gatherings like Desertfest Berlin, SonicBlast Moledo, etc., but to listen to the six-track/53-minute outing and ignore the apparent mindfulness behind its drift is to miss out on one of the album’s most resonant appeals.

It’s not just a record that jams out spacious tones and gently echoing melodic vocals in a tossed-off manner; there is an overarching purposefulness to its fluidity and to its presentation, which begins with the opening salvo provided by the extended “Vero” (11:38) and “Religion of Man” (12:02) and moves directly into the Elder-style heavy-prog shimmer of the shortest inclusion, “Blood Leave a Trail,” which still has enough swirl to not be a contrast in its 6:20 run. If one wanted, I suppose, they could hear The Sea and simply get lost in the wash of “Vero” and suddenly snap back to consciousness after the finale of “Crows” has ended, but whether it’s Arthur‘s bassline as the foundation for the volume swell of effects at the start of “Hydrophobia” or the swinging taps on Lesyk‘s ride cymbal as “Vero” jazzily approaches its peaceful, atmospheric midsection, the collection is rife with details that warrant active engagement.

In other words, the more one puts into hearing it, the more satisfaction one is likely to reap from The Sea on the whole. To wit, the initial pairing of “Vero” and “Religion of Man” is perhaps the most obvious showcase of intent on the part of Somali Yacht Club in terms of their desire to fully engage and hypnotize, and while they come close to earning the immediate points of opening with their longest track — there should be a partial credit system for the salvo as a whole, but I haven’t worked out the metrics of such things; check back (or don’t) — it’s the breadth in the midsection of “Vero” that’s most likley to entrance outright. All throughout The Sea, the band demonstrate an ability to transition between wide-cast ambience and more directly weighted, riffier fare, and that’s true of the linear build in the second half of “Vero” as well as it picks up past the seven-minute mark and lumbers to its exciting conclusion, but it’s the patience there and in “Religion of Man” as well (speaking of details: the low-end angularity and feedback interplay in the eighth minute has to be heard to be believed) that makes the execution such a thrill to fully embrace and in tempo as much as construction, the songs are truly progressive in the sense of being thoughtful works manifesting a decisive creative growth.

That Somali Yacht Club then manage to shift modus into the six-minute “Blood Leave a Trail” essentially without missing a beat shows how well they’ve already managed to carry their listeners with them, and as the rest of The Sea rolls toward the shore, there is never a moment at which they seem either to be out of control or unaware of what effect their material might be having on their audience. Certainly they take their time getting to where they’re going, but as a whole, The Sea is almost perfect in its pacing, and the fact that Mez, Artur and Lesyk so confidently move at such a languid clip only further speaks to their progress in developing a chemistry over the last several years coming off the debut.

Serene and still a little sad, “Hydrophobia” begins the second half of the tracklisting (one assumes side B of the vinyl actually starts with “Blood Leave a Trail” before it) with an exploratory feel, but splits shortly after its midpoint to the most driving moment on The Sea, quicker in its tempo and more forceful in its swing, but still holding to the reach of the prior tracks in tone and reverb. The final four inclusions on The Sea — “Blood Leave a Trail,” “Hydrophobia,” “84 Days” and aforementioned closer “Crows” — are arranged longest to shortest, so the effect is that the record works to re-immerse the listener as it goes, and it’s telling that the last pairing of “84 Days” and “Crows” are shorter at 7:27 and 9:13, respectively, than the tracks were at the outset, as though Somali Yacht Club didn’t want to ask too much indulgence on the part of their listenership.

That may or may not be their motivation, I don’t know, but the track arrangement works just the same like a rising tide that gradually swells to engulf the shore. “84 Days” is massive by the time the vocals arrive late, having grown so subtly along the way that it’s perhaps the easiest point on the record to lose one’s self, and as the standalone riff of “Crows” begins the last piece, the band seem to be securing their triumph with a victory lap of a groove. Well earned. There’s an uptick in pace as they move toward the middle — Lesyk seeming to double-time it on drums — but it’s shortlived, and the core of “Crows” resides around a singular, nod-ready progression that lumbers in the fullness of its fuzz early and reemerges from the psych-gazing middle third to cap the finale with due payoff for the reaches plumed before it.

If 75 percent of the earth is water, The Sea might just be wet enough to earn its name, but where the album’s true achievement lies is in the grace with which its component pieces come together and the flow that unites them as a whole work, cohesive in sound and purpose and resonant in tone and emotion. One is curious to think what might happen if Somali Yacht Club, after The Sun and The Sea, finally approach landfall with their third outing, but wherever these sonic waves ultimately carry them, the journey is a joy to behold.

Somali Yacht Club, The Sea (2018)

Somali Yacht Club on Thee Facebooks

Somali Yacht Club on Bandcamp

Somali Yacht Club on Twitter

Somali Yacht Club on Instagram

Robustfellow Productions on Thee Facebooks

Robustfellow Productions on Bandcamp

Robustfellow Productions on Twitter

Robustfellow Productions on Instagram

Kozmik Artifactz on Thee Facebooks

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz webstore

In the swaying rhythm, melody and swirling lead in the back half of the newly-unveiled ‘Blood Leave a Trail,’ one can hear Ukrainian trio Somali Yacht Club working under the progressive heavy rock influence of Elder‘s Lore album as they follow-up their 2014 debut,  The Sun (discussed here), but there’s some dreamy psychedelic vibes underlying that spirit and that suits them no less well than the directed cohesion around which the track is ultimately based. The Sea, which is the album from whence “Blood Leave a Trail” comes, is set to release Jan. 28 via Robustfellow and Kozmik Artfactz both, and preorders have been made available for those who like to get these things out of the way early, before, you know, spending money on less important stuff like paying bills or buying food or whatever it might be. Priority goes to rock.

Hard not to dig this cover art, right? I don’t know who did it, but yeah. If I was the kind of guy to keep a list of awesome album covers throughout the course of a year and post it every December, I might just think 2018 had its first entry on same.

From the PR wire:

Robustfellow announce pre-orders for SOMALI YACHT CLUB’s sophomore album “The Sea”, out on January 28th.

Robustfellow Prods. announce pre-orders for “The Sea”, the long anticipated sophomore album of Ukrainian dream-toned psychedelic trio SOMALI YACHT CLUB.
After the release of their highly acclaimed first album “The Sun”, which demonstrated the band’s ability to create dreamy vibe, mix styles and immerse listeners into phantasmagorical sound landscapes, SOMALI YACHT CLUB expand their musical horizons with their next LP “The Sea”. Warm grooves, atmospheric psychedelia, rich fuzz, airy leads masterfully blend in one sonic canvas and show progression of the band both in terms of songwriting and lyricism.

“The whole album is built upon the story about love, friendship, hope, and trust”, vocalist and guitarist Ihor comments. “Our music gets darker, more sophisticated and deep with each song. Imagine the dark clouds that are sinking lower and lower and dark-blue waves that are rising higher and higher.”

From the 22nd of December, you can pre-order CDs, limited editions, t-shirts, patches, bundles and many more via Robustfellow Prods. The album release will be accompanied with a massive merchandise sale at this location. Vinyls will be available via Kozmik Artifactz (links below) in the beginning of spring.

1. Vero
2. Religion Of Man
3. Blood Leave A Trail
4. Hydrophobia
5. 84 Days
6. Crows

http://facebook.com/Somaliyachtclub
http://somaliyachtclub.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/somaliyachtclub
http://instagram.com/somaliyachtclub
http://facebook.com/RobustfellowProds/
http://robustfellow.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/robust_fellow
http://instagram.com/robustfellow_prods
http://facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
http://kozmik-artifactz.com
http://shop.bilocationrecords.com

Somali Yacht Club, “Blood Leave a Trail”

To be sure, if you’re looking to start a collection of underrated and ripe-for-broader-appreciation riffage, there are probably few better ways to kick off than with Eternal Elysium. The long-running Nagoya-based outfit trace their stoner rocking Sabbathian loyalties back more than 20 years at this point, and they have a discography chock full of memorable songs that have gone rampantly undervalued in their time. Accordingly, one can only applaud the efforts of Ukrainian imprint Robustfellow Productions in giving due homage to Eternal Elysium‘s 2005 fourth album, Searching Low and High, which from the initial boogie of “Reefer Happiness” through the Hendrixian strut of “Twilight High” and into the depths of 16-minute jammer finale “Green Song” makes just about a perfect lead release for what’s been dubbed the Robust Relics Series.

Given new cover art by Yura “xNinja” Nagorniy and a complete 2017 remix and remaster courtesy of Eternal Elysium founding guitarist/vocalist Yukito Okazaki, the new version of Searching Low and High is comprised of 10 songs and runs a suitably robust 73 minutes thanks in part to the inclusion of two bonus tracks, “Eternal Elysium” (13:53) and “The Spiral Conclusion” (6:59), but even without these, it’s a substantial work of heavy rock idolatry, digging into the roots of the style and focusing less on nuance of presentation than quality of songcraft. That’s not a tradeoff you’re ever going to hear me complain about, and indeed, the band works it to their advantage even for a weirdo interlude like “Approaching Stranger on the Electric Trail of Dreams,” efficiently bringing a sense of atmosphere to the otherwise straightforward attack of the subsequent post-grunge of “No Isolation.”

Following their 1996 debut, Faithful, the next two Eternal Elysium records — 2000’s Spiritualized D and 2002’s Share — were released by MeteorCity, marking their introduction to North American audiences. They’ve had a number of EPs and splits out along the way, including one in 2007 with Black Cobra, and have issued two full-lengths since Searching Low and High in 2009’s Within the Triad and last year’s excellent return, Resonance of Shadows (review here).

Originally issued on Diwphalanx Records with a follow-up vinyl through Hydro-Phonic in 2011, Searching Low and High finds Eternal Elysium at an interesting point in the arc of their overarching progression, confident enough four records deep to throw a little country swing into “Before the Morning Comes” as might a Pepper Keenan-fronted C.O.C. or to play off acid folk on the 1:42 aside “Hazy Sublime” earlier, but well aware that the core of their approach lies in the thickened groove of a song like second cut “Not So Far,” which answers the faster initial rollout of “Reefer Happiness” by unfolding a doomer nod before turning at its halfway point to madcap stoner punk that here jumps from one channel to the other as it makes its way through its careening course toward a solo-topped bookending slowdown.

The opening salvo, followed immediately by the aforementioned “Hazy Sublime,” represents the very roots of what works best about Searching Low and High, but Eternal Elysium aren’t content to rest on that alone, and the substance of the album proves more varied and more satisfying than it would if they stuck to the same ideas across the span. And it’s precisely there that the band’s experience as songwriters becomes most relevant and, frankly, easiest to discern.

Earlier outings showcased no shortage of fervent stonerism and were righteous in doing so, but with Searching Low and High, Yukito, bassist/vocalist Tana Haugo and drummer Antonio Ishikawa move fluidly between a more varied swath of influences in a way that, in context, seems to provide a model they’d follow even on Resonance of Shadows, planting their feet firmly and moving outward from there. As the organ-laced “Before the Morning Comes” jives into the psychedelically languid “Green Song,” the trio effectively draw the listener along this path as they go, and the final act of immersion into drift is made all the more satisfying by its dynamic ebbs and flows throughout, guitar leads taking the fore of the new mix with a steady rhythmic foundation behind.

Capped with a fadeout and feedback, “Green Song” gives Searching Low and High a fitting conclusion — gone with no return — but the bonus tracks assure that the proceedings aren’t done yet. The eponymous “Eternal Elysium” appeared on the band’s demo in 1992 and “The Spiral Conclusion” featured on their 2012 split with SardoniS, but both were also on the Hydro-Phonic vinyl as well, so they’re hardly out of place here, and if you’re prone to complain about an extra 20 minutes spent with Eternal Elysium coming out of your speakers, you’re probably not taking on a reissue of Searching Low and High in the first place. Another jam. More nodding riffs. Zero argument.

It will be fascinating to see where Robustfellow takes its Robust Relics Series from here. Of course, I’ve discussed on numerous occasions the treasure trove of pre-social media heavy rock and roll that exists both in and out of current print, so there’s no shortage of fodder for the imprint to dig through and stand behind for reissue should it choose to do so, but in beginning with Eternal Elysium, a clear signal and a high standard have been set, and whether Searching Low and High will ultimately mark a departure point into the discographies of other acts or a series of revamped offerings from the Japanese rockers on their own, its arrival is as welcome as its riffs are timeless.

Eternal Elysium, Searching Low & High (2005/2017)

Eternal Elysium website

Eternal Elysium webstore

Eternal Elysium on Thee Facebooks

Eternal Elysium on Twitter

Robustfellow Productions on Thee Facebooks

Robustfellow Productions website

Robustfellow Productions on Twitter

Robustfellow Productions on Bandcamp

Ukrainian heavy psych rockers Somali Yacht Club made a resonant impression with, well, the resonance, of their debut album, The Sun (discussed here), which was issued by Robustfellow in 2014 and Kozmik Artifactz in 2016. The same two imprints combine their efforts in order to stand behind vinyl and CD pressings of the band’s second full-length, the six-song The Sea, which follows suit in vibe from its predecessor while further marking the progressive growth on the part of the group.

What does that mean? How does it manifest in the songs? The record’s not out until late January, so there’s some time really before one can expect some audio to be made public to find out — and I hope to have more on the release sometime between now and then, be it a track premiere or whatever — but on first impression, there’s an immediate warmth and sense of flow that would seem to fit with the titular theme at the very least, and while in a heavy psych context I can hardly even look at anything named The Sea and not hear the chorus of the Sungrazer song, it’s obvious Somali Yacht Club are thinking of it more in direct relation to the prior debut. Maybe they’ll do The Sand next and make it a day at the beach. Who knows?

The PR wire knows:

Dreamtoned trio from Ukraine, Somali Yacht Club, are going to release their sophomore album “The Sea” on Robustfellow Prods. (CDs and limited editions) and Kozmik Artifactz (vinyls).

After their first LP “The Sun” – which was highly acclaimed both by critics and listeners worldwide and showed the band’s ability to mix styles, create dreamy vibe and submerge listeners into fantastic sound landscapes – the band is ready to continue their musical journey with their next album “The Sea”. Rich fuzz, blended with atmospheric psychedelia, warm grooves and airy leads show the band’s progression both musically and lyrically and once again prove Somali Yacht Club’s inventiveness in blending styles.

1. Vero
2. Religion Of Man
3. Blood Leave A Trail
4. Hydrophobia
5. 84 Days
6. Crows

http://facebook.com/Somaliyachtclub
http://somaliyachtclub.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/somaliyachtclub
http://instagram.com/somaliyachtclub
http://facebook.com/RobustfellowProds/
http://robustfellow.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/robust_fellow
http://instagram.com/robustfellow_prods
http://facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
http://kozmik-artifactz.com
http://shop.bilocationrecords.com

Somali Yacht Club, “Sun’s Eyes”

I’ve applied this kind of standard before, I know, but the truth is there are two kinds of people who aren’t going to be down with Eternal Elysium reissuing a fully remixed and remastered version of their 2005 album, Searching Low and High, to kick off Robustfellow‘s new venture, the Robust Relics Series. You know those kinds of people? You guessed it: Jerks and squares. Everyone else should have no trouble getting down, either with the concept or the execution. Not saying I’ve heard it or anything or that I have the mp3s on right now, but the record sounds awesome.

Speaking of awesome, the long-running Japanese doom rockers issued their sixth album, Resonance of Shadows (review here), in 2016 and it was an absolute riff-rolling gem. The trio also contributed the track “Highflyer (Remix)” to Robustfellow‘s expansive 3CD Electric Funeral Cafe Vol. III compilation (review here) earlier in 2017, so this isn’t exactly the first time the band and the Ukraine imprint are working together, despite being a marked deepening of the relationship between the two.

Announcement came down the PR wire with new album art and so on:

Robustfellow Prods. To Re-Release the Classic Album of Japanese Heavy Psych/Doom Legends – Eternal Elysium

Robustfellow Prods. is happy to present a new activity supporting the robust scene – Robust Relics Series {RRS}. Here we rediscover robust albums from the past , giving them new life. We create new artwork with one of our artists, complete audio remaster and add bonus tracks from the respective period. RRS reissues are going to be produced with maximum attention to details while paying respect to the original feel of the release.

The first RRS release is going to happen with legends of Japanese heavy psych/doom scene – Eternal Elysium and their fabulous fourth album, Searching Low & High. It was originally released by Diwphalanx Records [CD, PX-132] in 2005, with a vinyl edition from Hydro-Phonic Records [2LP, HPR-247] in 2011.

12 years since its original release, Searching Low and High has become a hard-to-find issue on Discogs and eBay, so we decided to take a robust shocel and dig deeper.

“I think people can feel more raw and natural vibes on this remix version. And I feel this one is still deep and heavy. The big differences in sound between the original release and this remix/remaster are the textures and feeling of air/ambience,” Yukito Okazaki comments. “Those are the things I’m really aware of and taking care of now.”

The album retains the same energy of the moment, each track on the plate is catchy and memorable. Robustcrew considers this album an instant classic release and highly recommends it for everyone who is into heavy psych/doom/robust scene today!

Reissue features:
– Artwork by Yura “xNinja” Nagorniy [Robust Artist]
– Two bonus tracks (appearing on CD for the first time)
– Complete remix/remaster by Yukito Okazaki at Studio Zen in July-August 2017

Eternal Elysium in 2017 is:
Yukito Okazaki-guitar, vocal
Tana Haugo-bass, vocal
Antonio Ishikawa-drums

www.eternalelysium.com/
http://eternalelysiumshop.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Eternal-Elysium-official-160089987381948/
https://twitter.com/ETERNAL_ELYSIUM
https://www.facebook.com/RobustfellowProds/
http://robustfellow.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/robust_fellow
robustfellow.bandcamp.com

Eternal Elysium, “Green Song” (original)

The word progressive, especially in a musical context, can have any number of definitions. It can convey a focus on technique, a history of intellectualism that goes back decades, can relate to politics as much as style or can be a nebulous genre catchall. For me, a band or release is progressive when it shows real consideration in some element of its craft and/or presentation. When a band puts care and thought into what they do and always keep in mind a sense of artistic growth, of — wait for it — progression. That’s pretty open, but not at all universal, and there are few acts who emphasize precisely the sort of creative willpower sonic progressivism as Ukrainian heavy ritualists Ethereal Riffian.

Among groups I’ve had the pleasure to encounter the last few years, the Kiev-based outfit stand out not only in sound, drawing from the meditative heavy psych of Om and blending that patience with expanded arrangements of guitar and a wide swath of other instrumentation rooted in semi-Opethian prog metal and a shamanist-minded thematic, but in their utter purposefulness and their attention to detail. The physical pressings of their material are as intricate and gorgeous as their music is immersive. Atmosphere is no less paramount than how the songs themselves are crafted. They engage intellectually, spiritually and emotionally in what they do, and after a productive span that brought forth offerings like the I am Deathless two-song EP (review here) and the live  Youniversal Voice (review here) in 2016, Ethereal Riffian now delve the furthest they’ve gone yet into their mythos with the Afterlight DVD.

It’s a concert documentary, yes. They play a show. There’s a tracklisting. Songs are aired from a selection of concerts. But it’s more than just that. Beginning with a spoken intro about the band’s philosophy as regards the nature of music, Afterlight goes onto work its way through Shamanism, Buddhism and Mysticism — how these things relate to Ethereal Riffian, tying in the migration from Russian of the peoples who would become Native Americans over a course of centuries with an artistry and fluidity that one can hear being brought to bear in the fluidity of their psychedelic metal, chants and richly atmospheric execution of their material, which even live comes through with a balance every bit worthy of its heady conceptual foundations.

Over the course of more than an hour and 40 minutes, Afterlight brims with purpose across multiple acts defined by these concepts and as the band rightly postulates, gives its audiences the most in-depth look at who they are and where they’re coming from that they’ve yet showcased. This is a limited-time screening. It will be available for five days, and after that, it gets pulled and the only way to view Afterlight will be by ordering it from Ethereal Riffian‘s Bandcamp. If you go that route, you should know it comes with a wax seal, and of course the artwork and packaging are crazy lux, as is the band’s wont.

So please, enjoy this one while you can. And as you dig in below, keep in mind the transitory nature of creativity itself, because I can just about guarantee that wherever Ethereal Riffian go from here, it’s going to be on a different plane than this or anything that’s preceded it.

Here we go:

Ethereal Riffian, Afterlight DVD limited screening

Limited time, 5-day screening of Afterlight DVD is available exclusively via https://theobelisk.net/

Buy physical copy via http://etherealriffian.bandcamp.com/

Spiritualized rockers from Ukraine Ethereal Riffian have launched the “Afterlight” DVD, which showcases the results of the band’s 6-year work. “Afterlight” is a conceptual work and its main theme is spiritual liberation in different spiritual traditions, namely – Shamanism, Buddhism and Mysticism. The DVD features:

– Full overview of Ethereal Riffian’s creative universe
– Animated videos uncovering the spiritual journey of “Afterlight’s” main characters
– Special structure with three acts, introduction and epilogue that gives the DVD a logical inception and ending.
– Unique bonuses including official music video, two documentaries, archive with rare photos and more
– Mesmerizing artwork

“Since 2013 I wanted to have a single release that can give a versatile overview of the band’s creative work – its music, philosophy, approach to limited editions and live potential. And now we have it,” says Val Kornev, the frontman of the band. “With this release we, on one hand, aim to crystalize all our work and ideas since the inception of the band, and on the other hand, we want to show the quintessential component which unites all spiritual paths. For the band this release marks the end of the first chapter in its history and the beginning of the new one.”

Tracklist of the “Afterlight” DVD
1. Whispering of the Ancients
2. Beyond
3. Transoma
4. Wakan Tanka
5. Thugdam
6. March of Spiritu
7. Anatman
8. Drum of the Deathless
9. Sword of the Deathless
10. Light of Self

Ethereal Riffian on Bandcamp

Ethereal Riffian on Thee Facebooks

Ethereal Riffian on Instagram

Ethereal Riffian on Twitter

Like few heavy psych acts the world over, Ukrainian shamanistic groovers Ethereal Riffian have committed themselves to physical presentation of media as a part of their aesthetic process. Deeply progressive in their songwriting, they extend a self-awareness to how their material is presented to the listener, be it vinyl, CD, or in the case of Afterlight, a limited-edition DVD available to preorder in a number of varied packages. The release itself contains live and documentary footage and then some — animated videos, an overarching narrative, bonus interviews, and so on — and it seems the band’s attempt is to capture the full essence their years together in a single release. If that isn’t worthy of a wax seal, I don’t know what is.

You can see the various editions at their Bandcamp and see a teaser and a making-of video below. Official release date for Afterlight is Aug. 17, but all the tracks are streaming now as well.

From the PR wire:

Ethereal Riffian Launch Pre-Orders for “Afterlight” DVD

Artist: Ethereal Riffian
Title: “Afterlight”
Formats: DVD-book, ecopack, or as a part of discography (comes with a secret link to view bonuses in Full HD)
Label: Self-Released

Release Date: 17 August 2017

Spiritualized rockers from Ukraine Ethereal Riffian have launched pre-orders for “Afterlight” DVD, which showcases the results of the band’s 6-year work. “Afterlight” is a conceptual work and its main theme is spiritual liberation in different spiritual traditions, namely – Shamanism, Buddhism and Mysticism. The DVD features:

– Full overview of Ethereal Riffian’s creative universe
– Animated videos uncovering the spiritual journey of “Afterlight’s” main characters
– Special structure with three acts, introduction and epilogue that gives the DVD a logical inception and ending.
– Unique bonuses including official music video, two documentaries, archive with rare photos and more
– Mesmerizing artwork

“Since 2013 I wanted to have a single release that can give a versatile overview of the band’s creative work – its music, philosophy, approach to limited editions and live potential. And now we have it,” says Val Kornev, the frontman of the band. “With this release we, on one hand, aim to crystalize all our work and ideas since the inception of the band, and on the other hand, we want to show the quintessential component which unites all spiritual paths. For the band this release marks the end of the first chapter in its history and the beginning of the new one.”

Traditionally for the band, “Afterlight” comes in unique formats elaborated by the band (limited edition DVD-book and discography) and can be purchased for pre-order prices, along with three exclusive limited-time offers via the band’s bandcamp page: http://etherealriffian.bandcamp.com/. Pre-sale will be active from 17.VII.2017 to 17.VIII.2017. Upon the end of pre-sale, limited-time offers will expire and prices for other items will be increased.

Tracklist of the “Afterlight” DVD
1. Whispering of the Ancients
2. Beyond
3. Transoma
4. Wakan Tanka
5. Thugdam
6. March of Spiritu
7. Anatman
8. Drum of the Deathless
9. Sword of the Deathless
10. Light of Self

“Afterlight” DVD was made possible thankfully to the efforts of:

– Kirai Gigs team, which filmed and edited all video materials for the main unit
– xNinja, who created both the breathtaking artwork and the mesmerizing illustrations for animated videos
– Bobina Records and Max Poops, who worked scrupulously to make live performances sound like expensive studio records
– Robustfellow and the Kornev family whose continuous support motivates and inspires

https://etherealriffian.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/etherealriffian/
http://bit.ly/etherealriffian
https://www.instagram.com/etherealriffian/
https://twitter.com/EtherealRiffian
https://vk.com/etherealriffian

Ethereal Riffian, Afterlight (2017)

Ethereal Riffian, The Making of Afterlight Limited Editions

Ethereal Riffian, Afterlight DVD teaser

Doing something different with the giveaway this time. If you’re on Thee Facebooks, I’ve teamed up with Ukrainian heavy specialists Robustfellow Productions to give away a special grab-bag with the new CD from Contra (review here), a copy of the 3CD Electric Funeral Cafe Vol. 3 compilation (review here), a Contra tape, a DVD and a bunch of other stickers and other goodies from the label.

All you have to do is hop on Thee Facebooks, follow Robustfellow Productions (their page looks like this) and comment on this post to enter to win all the stuff. If you’re not on social media or otherwise averse, I’ll count comments on this post as entries too in the usual way, but yeah, I’d like to give the label a real boost on Thee Facebooks if we can since they do good work, so if you’re up for it, thanks in advance for entering.

Here’s the prize pack and info:

Robust Bag for Robust lottery @ The Obelisk

Robust Lottery is a tradition of each Robust Event.

This time we have a fresh, ground-breaking release that’s coming in the middle of the summer, so we have decided to ask The Obelisk to conduct the Robust Lottery throughout the whole globe.

Participating in the Robust Lottery you can win a lot of tasty stuff:

• Contra “Deny Everything” CD
• Contra “Deny Everything” MC L (ltd.ed. tape vs. cartridge and pin set)
• VA – Electric Funeral Cafe vol.3 (3 CD) – interstellar psychedelic voyage. “Immense document of Ukrainian heavy”
• Robustfest vol.III (DVD)
• bundle of stickers, patches, pins related to Robust scene

Here are few simple rules that you should follow to win a Robust Bag:

1) Press like, follow -> see first to “The Obelisk” and “Robustfellow” pages (if you haven’t done this before)
2) Write a comment below this post
3) Winner will be chosen randomly

The lottery starts today and ends next Tuesday (4 Jul 2017, +2 GMT). Don’t miss your chance!

Contra, Deny Everything (2017)

Various Artists, Electric Funeral Cafe Vol. 3 (2017)

Robustfellow Productions on Bandcamp

Robustfellow Productions on Thee Facebooks

Robustfellow Productions website