Tag: slough feg

CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC To Release Vinyl Edition Of HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE’s ‘Overtaker’

Enrico

Cruz Del Sur Music, the label responsible for releasing HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE’s brilliant 2003 opus, “The August Engine”, is proud to announce a January (20) 2023 vinyl release of the band’s new “Overtaker” studio album.

The band’s first album in six years, founding member, guitarist and songwriter John Cobbett cites a change in direction in style he notes as “psychedlic thrash.”

The album features a revamped HAMMERS lineup that includes the return of Jamie Myers (vocalist and bassist in “The Locust Years” lineup) and the former rhythm section of VEKTOR, Blake Anderson and Frank Chin. Cobbett started work on “Overtaker” as early as 2018. Initially, Overtaker wasn’t supposed to be a HAMMERS album but a thrash side-project and was influenced by Cobbett and partner Sigrid Sheie’s work on VHÖL’s “Deeper Than Sky” (2015).

“When my family moved to Montana in 2016, my inclination was to continue expanding on this sound,” Cobbett said. “Initially, there was no intention of putting it out as HAMMERS or VHÖL. Everyone was so busy, and we were suddenly far away from our usual co-conspirators. But that changed as the album developed and old friends returned to the fold. ‘Overtaker’ is fast, furious, psychedelic and progressive. But it’s different from other progressive metal in true Hammers fashion.”

Like all the Hammers material that preceded it, Overtaker defies genres and labels. The sound is a combination of ’70s prog and furious ’80s thrash. The result is something that’s never been done before — a mix of King Crimson’s “In The Court Of The Crimson King” and Slayer’s “Reign In Blood”. “Overtaker” was put together during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and survived Anderson’s serious wrist injury in a scooter accident, which led to a year-plus recovery. 


“Overtaker” was recorded both in home studios and Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studios in Chicago with Sanford Parker engineering. Drums, piano and timpani were tracked during a four-day session at Electrical Audio in 2021; the remaining material was recorded via home studios, including vocals and Sigrid Sheie’s mighty Hammond B3 organ.

Originally scheduled as an independent release on CD format this December, Corbett is excited to be working with his old friends at Cruz Del Sur Music on the “Overtaker” vinyl edition.

“We are happy to announce that ‘Overtaker’ will be getting a vinyl release on Cruz Del Sur Music!” he enthuses. “The record and the cover art were designed specifically to be released in this format, so this is fantastic news! Cruz Del Sur Music did an amazing job with the vinyl pressing of ‘The Bastard’ back in 2021, so this promises to be a beautiful release. Thanks to everyone for their support!”

“Overtaker” track listing:

1. Overtaker

2. Dark Brennius

3. Vipers Cross

4. Don’t Follow The Lights

5. Ghost Hearts

6. Outside Our Minds

7. The Raven’s Bell

8. Orbweaver

9. Overthrower

10. Aggressive Perfection

ORODRUIN Ink Deal With Cruz Del Sur Music; New Album Due In October

Enrico

Veteran Rochester, New York doomsters ORODRUIN have signed with Cruz Del Sur Music for the release of their second full-length album, “Ruins Of Eternity”. The album — the band’s first in 16 years — will see the light of day this October. 

Originally formed in 1998 by John Gallo (guitar), Mike Puleo (bass/vocals), Nick Tydelski (guitar) and Mike Waske (drums), ORODRUIN broke onto the American metal scene with 2003’s “Epicurean Mass”, which remains their lone full-length album to date. From the vintage school of BLACK SABBATH and SAINT VITUS doom with a European twist, ORODRUIN’s penchant for churning riffs and atmospheric passages instantly put them on the global doom metal map. The band issued a split, compilation, demo and EP in ensuing years, all building up to the eventual release of their sophomore album.

According to Gallo, ORODRUIN wrote nine new songs from 2016 to 2018, with a tenth song, “Letter Of Life’s Regret” coming from 2005. The album was tracked throughout 2018 at Wicked Squid Studio and is currently being mixed with the mastering process right around the corner.

“Stylistically, the songs are in the epic doom realm like the master titans of the 1970s, SABBATH and JUDAS PRIEST,” says Gallo. “The songs are a long-awaiting evolution in our writing and chemistry among brothers on a treacherous journey that will finally be unleashed to the masses.  We hope it translates well to the hearts and souls of our fans worldwide.” 

In preparation for the band’s triumphant return to European shores for this fall’s Hammer Of Doom festival, ORODRUIN have enlisted drummer Kevin Latchaw of labelmates ARGUS, who is temporarily manning the drum spot while the band searches for a replacement for Waske, who left ORODRUIN in April of 2018. 

Gallo: “We are extremely honored to be playing the same night as Uli Jon Roth and TROUBLE alongside our classic doom brothers MIRROR OF DECEPTION, SKALD and ATLANTEAN KODEX on the next day, to mention only a few!  We can’t express how amazing it will be to be playing a substantial doom metal festival in Germany again. We hope people enjoy the new material as much as we do playing it.”

ORODRUIN’s addition to Cruz Del Sur adds to an ever-growing stable of excellent doom metal bands. Not only will the partnership expose ORODRUIN to new audiences, it will put them in close company with many bands who they consider contemporaries. “We have been aware of Cruz Del Sur for a while and it seemed like the perfect home for us as we have a more European audience that appreciates our style of doom metal. Plus, it will be great to be alongside our fellow doom friends in WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, SLOUGH FEG and ARGUS.”

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.”