Tag: apostle of solitude

APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE To Release ‘Until The Darkness Goes’ This November

Enrico

Indianapolis doom titans APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE will release their fifth studio album, “Until The Darkness Goes”, this November via Cruz Del Sur Music.

APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE — featuring vocalist/guitarist Chuck Brown, guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, bassist Mike Naish and drummer Corey Webb — initially planned to record the album in late 2020, but health and safety concerns over the global pandemic pushed the start date to May 17 of this year. Once again, the band hunkered down in Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana, with long-time producer/engineer Mike Bridavsky at the helm.

According to Naish, the goal heading into the creation of “Until The Darkness Goes” was to write shorter, more compact songs, with an onus on their quality and emotional impact on the listener. “This album is short even by our standards,” he says. “The emotion of the lyrics coupled with slower tempos suggest a sudden and painful personal loss, a mood that evolved over the album’s creation. It is probably more about refining what we do best as a band — and individuals — to convey an idea as opposed to continuing a theme. In short, it’s a more polished version of everything we all loved about our previous records.”

The pandemic directly impacted APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE — one of its members lost both parents, casting a pall over its creation. The band took advantage of shifting recording dates to refine the album, resulting in what is unquestionably their darkest and most heartfelt LP to date.

“The pandemic was ever-present as the songwriting process evolved,” says Naish. “Thus, more of our personal experiences became infused in our playing and songwriting, specifically around vocal harmonies. To play music together was cathartic for us, but it was also challenging to stay safe during a pandemic. We were fortunate to have support from our label, Cruz Del Sur, to record when we felt comfortable. So, that’s what we did.”

APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE recently resumed live activity, including two opening slots on the abbreviated THE OBSESSED and THE SKULL American tour. While the band enjoyed hitting the stage once again, they couldn’t help but worry things could come to a halt at any time.

“There always seemed to be some impending sense of doom (pun intended?) that nothing has any sense of permanence,” finishes Naish. “We are generously supported when we tour, and, for that, we are grateful. We owe it to ourselves and each other to pull our weight to bring this pandemic to an end. We want to tour in support of this release when conditions are favorable for both performers and fans. Unfortunately, we cannot predict when that will be. Working musicians are struggling right now to make ends meet, and we feel uncomfortable putting anyone at risk in these trying times. We’ll see you all as soon as we can do it safely.”

“Until The Darkness Goes” tracklisting:

  1. When The Darkness Comes
  2. The Union
  3. Apathy In Isolation
  4. Deeper Than The Oceans
  5. Beautifully Dark
  6. Relive The Day

PALE DIVINE Brings The Doom To CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC

Enrico

Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce the signing of Pennsylvania doom mainstays PALE DIVINE.

Founded in 1995, PALE DIVINE has made a name for itself with its time-honored and distinctive take on classic doom metal. Albums such as 2004’s “Eternity Revealed” and 2007’s “Cemetery Earth” cemented the band’s reputation as one of the best pure torchbearers of BLACK SABBATH and SAINT VITUS-styled doom, while their most recent 2018 self-titled album was hailed by Last Rites as “true-blue doom for the truly doomed.”

PALE DIVINE — who comprise of vocalist/guitarist Greg Diener, guitarist Dana Ortt, bassist Ron McGinnis and drummer Darin McCloskey — is currently hunkered down in the studio with producer Richard Whittaker recording their sixth studio album, “Consequence Of Time”, which will see the light of day in May 2020. The album’s artwork will be handled by Brian Tutlo, the man responsible for the eye-catching “Thunder Perfect Mind” and “Eternity Revealed” covers.


“It’s definitely a natural progression but maybe not in the way people might expect, which is one of the reasons we’re excited,” says McCloskey. “We have a new lineup now which includes Dana, whom Greg and I played with in BEELZEFUZZ. Dana has brought a new element to the band that blends perfectly with PALE DIVINE that has helped us take things to the next level.”  

PALE DIVINE came to join Cruz Del Sur Music through a familiar face: WHILE HEAVEN WEPT leader Tom Phillips. The band originally crossed paths with Cruz Del Sur label head Enrico Leccese at the 2018 Hammer Of Doom festival in Germany, but it was Phillips who initiated the proper discussions. After that, according to McCloskey, it was a no-brainer to sign with Cruz Del Sur.

“We had heard great things about Cruz Del Sur from our friends in ARGUS and APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE so we were already familiar and very interested. We discussed things with Enrico and he offered us a great deal. Moving forward, we’re really excited to be part of the Cruz Del Sur Music roster. It feels like we’re part of a family now. This is where we belong.”

PALE DIVINE will be celebrating its 25th year as a band in 2020. McCloskey says the highlights have been numerous, starting with the bands they’ve played with and the people they’ve met over the years, as well as their first trip to Germany in 2005 playing alongside PLACE OF SKULLS and RISING DUST. “In many ways, it always sort of feels like we’re just starting out,” he says. “Every new experience, every new song and new album pretty much reinforces that. We still have a lot of music in us and a lot more to accomplish. It hardly seems like it’s been 25 years, in all honestly. Going overseas for the first time and playing for people who were fans of our music was pretty mind-blowing for us at the time…still is, really. Even our recent trip to Würzburg last year for Hammer Of Doom was an awesome experience as well. Certainly, the chemistry we have in our current lineup has been a big highlight and, of course, signing with Cruz Del Sur!”

Portland, Maine Doomsters OGRE Join Cruz Del Sur Music; ‘Thrice As Strong’ Studio Album Due This Fall

Enrico

Long-running Portland, Maine doom trio OGRE has signed with Cruz Del Sur Music for the October release of their forthcoming fifth studio album, “Thrice As Strong”. The album was tracked with Rowan Bishop at Garage Mahal Recording in Westbrook, Maine.

Practitioners of traditional doom with a mix of ’70s rock and proto metal, OGRE was formed in 1999 by Ed Cunningham (bass/vocals), Ross Markonish (guitar) and Will Broadbent (drums). To date, the band has released four studio albums, with 2014’s “The Last Neanderthal” their most recent. OGRE came to the attention of Cruz Del Sur through classic word of mouth — a handful of Cruz Del Sur bands put in the good word for OGRE to label owner Enrico Leccese. 

“Once we started working on this album, we posted a few messages on social media, reaching out to any potential labels that might be interested in working with us this time around,” says Markonish. “Will started up a correspondence with Butch Balich from ARGUS who then put us in touch with Tom Phillips of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, who works closely with Enrico. We played with WHILE HEAVEN WEPT years ago at a doom festival in Rochester, New York and we’ve also shared the stage with other Cruz artists, including ARGUS and APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE, so we couldn’t be happier to share a label with all those great bands, not to mention SLOUGH FEG, another favorite!”

Since the release of “The Last Neanderthal”, OGRE has kept themselves busy with shows in Portland, while working on the material that would eventually become “Thrice As Strong”. The band even found time to make their impact abroad: “One particularly cool thing that we did recently was travel to Arkhangelsk, Russia in October of last year to play the Belomor-Boogie Festival, a Russian rock festival that currently is in its 25th year of existence,” notes Markonish. “Arkhangelsk is the sister city of our hometown of Portland, Maine, so it was an amazing experience to travel across the globe and represent the Portland scene for the people of Russia. We made a ton of new friends and fans out there!” According to Markonish, the “Thrice As Strong” album title plays off OGRE’s power-trio formation and is taken from their namesake song, “Ogre”, which is the first track on their first album, “Dawn Of The Proto-Man”, which is also where “The Last Neanderthal” title came from. “As our fans know, we really like all of these self-referential details, as it sort of builds up the concept of an ‘OGRE Universe’. Not surprisingly, we are all fans of comic books, sci-fi and horror novels/movies, and bands like RUSH, who specialize in those sorts of geeky things.”

OGRE is recording with Bishop because of his “good set of ears” and the stripped-down feel of Garage Mahal Studios. Markonish says the new songs are not a departure from the band’s vintage sound, but fans can expect a few different influences this time around.

“When we first started working on this album, our original plan was to try to keep song lengths down a bit,” he says. “Reason being, our prior albums all featured at least one song in the 10-15-minute range, never mind our concept album, ‘Plague Of The Planet’, which consists of a single, 37-minute song! While that proved difficult (a couple songs on this album stretch into the 8-minute range), it still did inform our general approach to songwriting this time around. 

“I would also say that there is a bit more of an ‘80s metal influence on these tracks — some MAIDEN, a little DIO perhaps, and also some of the more underground bands of the time, like CIRITH UNGOL and MANILLA ROAD. Rowan even said he heard a little MERCYFUL FATE on some of the songs! The way I put it to someone, while our prior albums were majorly influenced by ’70s-era PENTAGRAM, this one shares some of its sound and ethos with the Victor Griffin ’80s line-up that produced the ‘Relentless’ and ‘Day Of Reckoning’ albums.”