Experimental-rock band Abrasive Trees have announced their latest offering via Italian doom label Argonauta Records. ‘Tao To Earth’ displays the band at a spiritual and psychedelic edge, revealing more of their emotional centre.
Band leader Matthew Rochford said of the release:
“This track is based on a lucid dream and points to themes of finding meaning amidst a chaotic and confusing world. The lyrics were originally written as a poem and we just expanded that to go into an uninhibited slightly prog-rock blast.”
‘Tao To Earth’ is out on all platforms and features an incredible video by visual artist Jess Wooller. There’s an exclusive remix by producer Niall Parker of Gravity Machine via Bandcamp too.
A little over two years on from the short film, Mill Session, Abrasive Trees have made another leap in pairing with Argonauta Records, a label which specialises in stoner, doom, sludge, and post-metal, and have unveiled ‘Carved Skull’ as a taster for upcoming album Light Remaining.
At first glance, having been variously described as Post-Punk/Post-Rock/Post-Folk, Abrasive Trees are a strange fit for the label, but with this seven-and-a-half-minute epic, it makes sense.
The intro is a slow-build, with echoes of latter-day Swans in the insistent percussion, repetitive jangling guitar and wordless droning vocals which pave the way for a spectacular sustained crescendo which introduces the riff which provides the track’s recurrent motif, and it’s almost two minutes before we arrive at the lyrics, in which Matthew Rochford reflects on the times in which we find ourselves and yearns for something better – a return to, if not necessarily simpler times, then honesty and humanity.
Can we write a eulogy, for this current age?
And leave the lies behind
Our fears are carved upon our skull
Our pain marked on our skin
The undercurrents reach back into dark folk imagery, and this is mirrored in the sound, too. Sonically, it’s rich and layered, simultaneously weighty but uplifting – which is perhaps a foreshadwing of the album’s thematics as alluded to in the title Light Remaining, which implies looming darkness, and yet., still some light – light synonymous with hope. These are dark times. But we must have hope. Without hope, what do we have?
With ‘Carved Skull’, Abrasive Trees have conjured a big sound, as is befitting of a big tune, which is bold and impactful, and likely an indication of what’s to come.
German post-metal collective Unverkalt today share a new music video for a song titled "Mass Hysteria", which is taken from the five-piece’s second album A Lump of Death: A Chaos of Dead Lovers released on October 20th via Argonauta Records.
Directed by Yiannis Margetousakis & Thanos Liberopoulos, this new video has premiered at Visions Magazin and is now playing here:
AA
Originally from Athens, Greece and recently relocated to Berlin, Germany, this post-metal collective draws influences from the European cinema, art movements, and human experiences, to churn out an emotional and cinematic post-metal sound.
Established in 2017 by guitarist Themis Ioannou and vocalist Dimitra Kalavrezou in Athens, Greece, they were later joined by guitarist George Stamkos and started the recordings of their debut album L’origine du Monde, which was released in November 2020.
Shortly after the debut album’s release, Unverkalt entered the studio to record their second full-length studio album in Berlin, Germany. Bassist Spyros Olivotos joined the group in 2022, contributing to the final touches of the new album.
Titled A Lump of Death: A Chaos of Dead Lovers, this new effort was recently released by Argonauta Records and revolves around a theme that is gruelling, powerful, and intense in all of its aspects. This album’s specific plot is influenced by the 70’s and the flowering of the cult community, and the acts of criminals and serial killers at that time. Most of the lyrics are influenced from that period of modern society.
Consisting of seven hymns, A Lump of Death: A Chaos of Dead Lovers signifies the ultimate blend of post-metal, avant-garde, and alternative sound with a distinct cinematic character and an atmosphere inspired by the dark 1970s decade.
Aural Aggravation 