Tag: manilla road

SMOULDER To Release ‘Dream Quest Ends’ EP In March

Enrico

Firebrand Canadian epic doomsters SMOULDER will release the “Dream Quest Ends” EP next March via Cruz Del Sur Music.
The follow-up to this year’s critically acclaimed “Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring” will feature two new songs, a cover of MANILLA ROAD’s “Cage Of Mirrors”, as well as all three cuts from the band’s debut 2018 “The Sword Woman” demo, including, for the first time on vinyl, their cover of NIGHTMARE’s “The Queen Is Gone”.

The Vinyl Edition will be available in 3 different colors (PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE):
– REGULAR BLACK VINYL (lmt 400) https://tinyurl.com/uzpfbay
– BONE VINYL (lmt 300) https://tinyurl.com/udmfg59
– NEON VIOLET (lmt 300) https://tinyurl.com/rqrszlr

– CD  https://tinyurl.com/uumccw4

“Dream Quest Ends” marks the end of a chapter for SMOULDER. The EP’s two original compositions, “Dream Quest Ends” and “Warrior Witch Of Hel”, was written by drummer Kevin Hester several years ago and accordingly were molded into a “more SMOULDER-esque” sound, complete with more lead guitars and choir-like vocal parts. Both serve as a milestone for SMOULDER — they are the last remaining songs from the band’s demo and “Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring” period.


“I don’t think these songs are what anyone will expect; we zigged instead of zagged,” notes singer Sarah Ann. “On a production front, we dialed it back a bit to make it sound more raw and unusual to match both the MANILLA ROAD track and the fact that a reprint of our demo is on the B-side of the vinyl. As for the A-side, what can we say? It’s unusual and both of the new tracks are slower. They are somewhat more bluesy and psychedelic within the context of power metal or epic doom, and I think that they fit very well alongside ‘Cage of Mirrors’.  

“In the title track, we do more experimentation with quiet acoustic parts, dueling vocals and top it off with a hugely epic triumphant end that sounds like a battering ram,” she continues. “The song lyrically revolves around a warrior sorceress who travels to an alien world to battle her titan nemesis in his sky castle, and Adam [Blake, bass] and I sing from the perspective of the titan and the sorceress to drive the epic-ness home. Meanwhile, ‘Warrior Witch of Hel’ starts out on this lurching, dark note with a repeating riff and lower register vocals. Once we get into the segments about the character — who is on a quest to free a castle full of slaves and cast the sorcerer presiding over it to Hel — it becomes much more upbeat and driving.”

The members of SMOULDER had been kicking the idea around to cover a MANILLA ROAD song ever since guitarist Collin Wolf and Hester joined the band. After leader MANILLA ROAD Mark Shelton’s untimely passing in July 2018, SMOULDER decided to move forward with a cover to honor his memory.

“‘Cage Of Mirrors’ is my absolute favorite track by the band and I’ve wanted to cover it for a long time so it was not a hard decision,” says guitarist Shon Vincent. “With its simple yet powerful structure, emotional vocal delivery and epic story-driven occult sword and sorcery lyrics, it was a perfect fit for us thematically. Sarah worked hard to match Mark’s wavering, unusual delivery, along with his growls, screams and laughs.”

The March release of “Dream Quest Ends” will coincide with the band’s appearance at the Up The Hammers and Horns Up festivals in Greece, as well as a spot at the Hell’s Heroes festival in Texas and Headbanger’s Open Air in Germany. After that, SMOULDER is going to give their collective creative batteries some time to recharge.

“We decided that we want to take some time on the next album rather than rush it out,” closes Sarah Ann. “All our favorite bands do things slow and steady, and we want to do the same to maintain quality.”

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.”

RAVENSIRE Enters Studio To Record Third Full-Length, ‘A Stone Engraved In Red’

Enrico

Portuguese heavy metal battalion RAVENSIRE has entered Studio 13 in Lisbon to begin work on their third full-length album, “A Stone Engraved In Red”. The album will be engineered once again by Paulo ‘Paulão’ Vieira and is due next summer via Cruz Del Sur Music.

The follow-up to 2016’s “The Cycle Never Ends” will be the first to feature new members Mário (guitar) and Alex (drums), both of whom took part in live activity that saw RAVENSIRE take their brand of traditional metal into Europe. According to founding guitarist Nuno, “A Stone Engraved In Red” will feature all the trademarks of RAVENSIRE’s sound, but with some new twists.
“We have started exploring a bit more when it comes to developing musical themes inside a song,” he says. “We have a couple of longer — even by our standards — songs, with plenty of changes in moods and tempo. The material is quite diverse and, personally, it is always a good sign when you listen to your own stuff and enjoy it!
“The songwriting remained the same for us,” he continues. “Someone will come up with a skeleton for a song more or less finished, and then we work it up as a whole band and everyone adds their part. There is one song, however, that was co-written by me and Mário. He did come up with an initial idea and then I added other parts and we created a structure. But, that was the exception to the norm!”
Nuno confirms song titles such as “Carnage at Karnag”, “Gabriel Lies Sleeping” and “The Games Of Titus” and their own tribute to recently-deceased MANILLA ROAD leader Mark Shelton, “After The Battle”. “Mark gave so much to the scene, so we felt it was right to dedicate this song to him. In addition, we have another tribute called ‘Dawning In Darkness’, which is dedicated to Hartmuth ‘Barbarian Wrath’ Schindler who had a terrible misfortune in the hospital and has been in a coma for more than a year. We want to pay our deepest respect and friendship to both of them.”

Like previous RAVENSIRE efforts, the album artwork for “A Stone Engraved In Red” will be in black and white, although Nuno admits there may be a surprise within the cover. As such, Nuno says the title of the album has a deeper meaning for the band: “It’s a statement that no matter what we do, we want it to be rock solid and stand the test of time, just like the epitaphs of old.”