U.K. heavy metal ensemble LETHEAN has inked a deal with Cruz Del Sur Music for the release of their “The Waters Of Death” debut album, which is due November 9.
Comments founding member James Ashbey: “We’re excited to be joining Cruz Del Sur. We feel at home within their roster as so many of their releases are ones we spin regularly. We’ve long felt Cruz Del Sur would be a good match for our style of heavy metal, so we’re grateful to Enrico for putting faith in the two of us despite our relative obscurity. It’s been a pleasure so far — his reputation for professionalism and honesty is well deserved.”
Formed in Essex in late 2012, LETHEAN’s stated purpose was to combine epic metal, NWOBHM and doom, along with the lyrical ethos of mortality and time, leveraging imagery from mythology, history and literature. The band’s 2013 debut two-song demo caught the attention of Greek duo Giannis Alexandrakis (WRATHBLADE) and Michalis Bakoulas (CONVIXION) who helped LETHEAN re-record the songs at an Athens studio. However, it was not until the early 2017 addition of vocalist and co-writer Thumri Paavana that LETHEAN started to gain creative traction, sparking the creation of “The Waters Of Death”.
The album is the first product of the fledgling Seven Gates recording studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, with Jamie Elton (ex-AMULET) in the producer’s chair. Recorded in the age-old tradition with microphones in front of loud Marshalls and given an analogue mastering by Jaime Gomez (ANGEL WITCH, PARADISE LOST) of Orgone Studios, London, “The Waters Of Death” has a traditional tone that sets it apart from highly-polished contemporary metal.
The atmospheric cover artwork for “The Waters Of Death” was painted by German artist Stefan Bleyl, who has captured the album’s themes of departure and the unknown beyond while reinforcing the frequent references to water, fire and oblivion found in LETHEAN’s lyrics.
Described by Ashbey as “six solemn heavy metal songs about death, turmoil and the passage of time,” “The Waters Of Death” effortlessly skirts genre boundaries, all the while maintaining a strong sense of melancholy — a defining trait of the band. “We have found that people have struggled to draw immediate parallels between us and other bands,” he says. “Of course, there are plenty of glimpses of our influences, but hopefully these rise and fall within a sound that isn’t defined by mimicry. And while we hate the vague categorization that tends to be assigned to ‘female-fronted’ bands, our use of female vocals will undoubtedly catch new listeners off-guard, repelling some and attracting others. We like it this way; we would much rather our music polarized opinion than stirred no one.”
“The Waters Of Death” will be released via the following formats: COMPACT DISC | VINYL | DIGITAL.
“The Waters Of Death” track listing:
Idylls Of The King
Seafarer
In Darkness Veiled
Time And The Gods
Across Grey Waters
Devouring Fire