Release:
Eisenwald
25.03.2021
Info:
Based out of Portland, Maine, FALLS OF RAUROS have continued to expand and elaborate on what has developed into their characteristic sound since their formation as a two-piece in 2005. Having expanded into a fully-realized and collaborative quartet, the band's sound is both immersive and immediately impactful, with rich detail and sonic textures that warrant repeat listens throughout their discography.
Intent on exploring the common ground between black metal, rock, and folk music, the group’s collective goal is not to build bridges to connect disparate genres, but to chisel the raw materials of each into something seamless and new. For 15 years, the band has quietly honed their craft in the seaside city of Portland, Maine, far from the noise of the country’s more storied metropolises, occasionally punctuating their periods of reclusivity with sparse touring throughout the United States and Canada for select live appearances. FALLS OF RAUROS' latest release "Key to a Vanishing Future", which is scheduled for release through Eisenwald in 2022, features yet another set of forward-thinking compositions from a band that refuses to remain idle. Devoid of any fan-service or nostalgic tributes to genre-conventions, "Key to a Vanishing Future" is the most intricate and exploratory work of the band’s career, while at the same time managing to be their most visceral and immediate sonic creation.
While not a concept album in the traditional sense, all of FALLS OF RAUROS' work is bound by the exploration of a unifying theme. As pertains to "Key to a Vanishing Future", the underlying concept explored is based on the fact that humans are born into this world without consent and forced to take on both the weight of human history and a responsibility for shaping the future. Both the failures and successes of previous generations are passed to the next, and the younger generation has no choice but to inherit the world they are given. Tradition, religion, debt, disease, addiction, the histrionics of desperate people living in a crumbling empire; all of these things wedge their way into our lives whether we invite them to or not. As such, the album's lyrics explore the idea of obligatory inheritance.
Musically, "Key to a Vanishing Future" is an intended departure from the sounds explored throughout the band's back catalogue, while still retaining characteristics inherent to FALLS OF RAUROS. Never content to make the same album twice, the group has once again invited new influences into their aesthetic, this time including more explicit nods to death metal and prog rock while still drilling deeper into the black metal and North American folk-rock that makes up their core sound. This is once again their heaviest album to date, as well as their most technically demanding. The album was recorded by the band themselves in their rehearsal space in late 2020/early 2021, befitting of the natural and organic sound pursued for the album, while mixing and mastering duties were handled by Colin Marston. The striking artwork was created by Austin Lunn (Panopticon). Photography by Drew Buerhaus.
"Clarity" - Official Track Stream: https://youtu.be/rxAWy90foXk
Tracklist:
1. Clarity
2. Desert of Heart
3. Survival Poem
4. Known World Narrows
5. Daggers In Floodlight
6. Poverty Hymn
Line-up:
Aaron Charles - Guitar, Vocals
Jordan Guerette - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
Evan Lovely - Bass
Ray Capizzo - Drums
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