Here’s today’s roundup of album news which comes in alphabetical order…
Dawn of Ouroboros
Californian blackened progressive metal band Dawn of Ouroboros are now streaming the entirety of their critically acclaimed new album The Art of Morphology. The album is out now on physical formats and Bandcamp and will be released on all other streaming platforms on April 6th. You can listen to the album in full in the video below:
Devin Townsend
which we reviewed] where he performed tracks including ‘Love?’, ‘Deadhead’, ‘Thing Beyond Things’ & more.
It also features the full Empath Documentary, a ‘Genesis 5.1 Mixing Lesson’, a full album commentary & more. The four discs sit inside a beautiful art-book that contains new liner notes and images from the making of the album.
Devin comments of the new 5.1 surround sound mix:
“On a technical level, I guess I have always been dissatisfied with the basic ‘stereo’ format in which the type of music I make gets presented in. Whether it’s headphones, computer speakers, stereos (or basically anything currently), I have had to figure out ways to get the work to function through TWO speakers. I hear things in a particularly orchestrated way, and with the amount of information that typically gets recorded per song, the result has been the dubious ‘wall of sound’ that I keep ending up with. But my intention has never been to make an oppressive experience, but rather something that is immersive and vast.
Making it work in two speakers just simply doesn’t quite work for the vision. Although I’ve managed to get the point across, (to varying degrees), things always have to compromise to make it all fit. Making the drums speak at the same time as orchestra, cymbals, guitars, choirs, synths etc.…all with my voice on top, ends up with every conceivable frequency fighting for breathing space between those two speakers.
Therefore, I asked the powers that be in my business world, to tolerate one more ‘kick at the can’ when it came to Empath. I wanted to attempt a surround mix and follow the original vision of it being an immersive, multimedia experience for people in the ways I could best achieve at this stage. And although it’s still pretty ‘dense’, with four more sources for the sound to come from, I feel it’s significantly closer to the original vision here.”
The album can be preordered here.
David Ellefson
Grammy Winning Megadeth bassist David Ellefson is set to release “Simple Truth”, the new single from his eponymous solo band Ellefson in April, with all proceeds going to Italian Covid-19 relief. The track co-written by Ellefson and vocalist Thom Hazaert, with Italian guitarist and drummer Andy Martongelli and Paolo Caridi, will appear on the full length follow-up to the 2019 release Sleeping Giants, a B-sides compilation featuring several new songs, and reworkings of previous David Ellefson instrumental solo material co-written and produced by Ellefson and Hazaert.
Says Ellefson,
We actually wrote the song in Milan during a tour rehearsal, and a lot of it was recorded there. We’ve gone back and forth with Andy in Italy, from the Platinum Underground in Phoenix, and with our mixer and co-engineer Alessio Garavello in London. While we’re all staying positive and just keeping busy, it’s heartbreaking to see what’s going on over there with the death toll climbing every day.We played several shows in Italy on our European ‘MORE LIVE WITH DETH’ tour last year, and I was just there with Megadeth back in February. It’s absolutely devastating to see what the country is going through right now. The people, and it’s culture, have been so welcoming to me over the years, that i’m honored to do anything I can to give something back to them during this time of need”
The track will be released on all digital outlets on the 17th April, with a direct Bandcamp release on the 10th April, via Ellefson’s Combat Records, with all profits from s and streams donated to the Italian Red Cross who are at the frontlines of the war on Covid-19, coordinating the nation’s pandemic response with Italy’s Ministry of Health.
Exocrine
Bordeaux, -based masters of technical death metal Exocrine have announced the release of new album Maelstrom on 26th June via Unique Leader. Maelstrom is the band’s fourth album since their inception in 2013, and first with new drummer Théo Gendron. The band commented,
“We really pushed our limits this time, in composition and production. We put all our creativity into this album to make Maelstrom as surprising as possible while remaining true to our style. The arrival of Théo in the band has allowed us to try new things like extreme tempos, but also very difficult and proggy parts. We’ve really pushed ourselves to create a sound that works perfectly on the album but also on stage. Because it’s our 4th album we wanted to deeply explore our imagination, that’s why we have some guests on Maelstrom in order to further enrich our universe. This time we’ve really experimented with new sounds and instruments. Anyway, it is certainly intense, but also crazy and fun!”
The band have also premiered the music video for the title-track which can be seen below:
