Tag: cruz del sur music

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.”

THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG Returns With First Album In Five Years, ‘New Organon’

Enrico

“I didn’t want to just ‘put out another album,’” begins SLOUGH FEG vocalist/guitarist Mike Scalzi. “I remember telling people that I didn’t want to do another album just to do another album, like so often happens. So, we wrote a lot of songs and only picked the best ones.”

Such was the approach for SLOUGH FEG’s long-awaited tenth studio album, “New Organon”, which will see the light of day via Cruz Del Sur Music on June 14 in European territories and June 21 in North America. “New Organon” also marks the recording debut of drummer Jeff Griffin (who split studio duties with John Dust) and joins Scalzi and longtime members Angelo Tringali (guitar) and Adrian Maestas (bass).

“New Organon” is another definitive statement from one of America’s most enduring and unique true metal bands, whose penchant for THIN LIZZY-inspired guitar harmonies and Scalzi’s timeless storytelling has turned albums such as 2005’s “Atavism”, 2007’s “Hardworlder” and 2010’s “The Animal Spirits” into proto-metal bedrocks.

Since the release of 2014’s “Digital Resistance”, SLOUGH FEG did three touring jaunts through Europe in addition to some shorter American runs, not to mention the release of the “New Organon” seven-inch, which was issued last year. Scalzi freely admits that real life has gotten in the way of SLOUGH FEG making a new LP. That, and his desire to make sure the band still sounds fresh after nine studio albums. “A lot of stuff ended up on the cutting room floor,” he says. “There were some songs we tried to work out for months but ended up dropping because they bored us. We have to be excited about new songs or there’s no point in recording them. We dropped several songs I came up with and some that the other guys came up with, too. It’s tough, but sometimes you have to be honest with yourself and the people in your band and move on when an idea is not working. So, we came up with a lot of song ideas and only kept the ones that sounded exciting for months.”

In true SLOUGH FEG tradition, there is a strong theme running throughout “New Organon”, which was inspired by the 1620 book published by Francis Bacon of the same name. “It presents a new version of the scientific method, as originally presented by Aristotle 2,000 years earlier,” notes Scalzi, who is also a philosophy professor at a college in California. “According to Bacon and others, the science method had remained stagnant for this long period, through the middle ages and renaissance, and needed a refresher. ‘Organon’ refers to a scientific ‘instrument’ or more literally, ‘organ.’ So, it represents a new method for scientific revolution. The songs are all basically about philosophy—from my lecture notes! It starts out talking about primitive tribal society like shamanism as the first philosophers and then proceeds though the pre-Socratics era and then Plato, Aristotle, medieval catholic theology, enlightenment and then existentialist philosophy — mostly in chronological order.”

Fans of the band’s early output when they went under the extended name of THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG will no doubt be enthused for what’s in store on “New Organon”. The album has a more natural, if not “rustic” feel to it, recalling the band’s halcyon “Twilight Of The Idols” and “Down Among The Deadmen” era. “Very simply, the songs are more heavy, rough and produced rawer than the last album or two,” says Scalzi. “The themes are not about technology, but about ancient philosophy and science. It’s just more metal, but in a very primitive way — but that’s sort of our specialty anyway.”

Around the release date of “New Organon”, SLOUGH FEG will be trekking across the United States with labelmates SANHEDRIN. “We’ll be doing ten shows on the east coast in late May/early June, right about the time when the album comes out, including New York, Boston, Baltimore and Pittsburgh,” says Scalzi. “In early August, SANHEDRIN is going to come out we’ll do another run with them up and down the west coast.”

“New Organon” track listing:

 

  1. Headhunter
  2. Discourse on Equality
  3. The Apology
  4. Being and Nothingness
  5. New Organon
  6. Sword of Machiavelli
  7. Uncanny
  8. Coming of Age in the Milky Way
  9. Exegesis/Tragic Hooligan
  10. The Cynic

 

SLOUGH FEG/SANHEDRIN tour dates:

May 30 – Baltimore, MD, Metro Gallery

May 31- Brooklyn, NY, Saint Vitus

June 1- Montreal, QC, Bar LeRitz

June 2 – Ottawa, ON, Mavericks

June 3 – Toronto, ON, Velvet Underground

June 4 – Pittsburgh, PA, Spirit

June 5 – Detroit, MI, Sanctuary

June 6 – Cleveland, OH, Now That’s Class

June 7 – Philadelphia, PA, Kung Fu Necktie

June 8 – Boston, MA, Middle East

MAUSOLEUM GATE To Introduce New Singer On ‘The Demon Age Of Aquarius’ 7-Inch

Enrico

MAUSOLEUM GATE’s past meets their future on “The Demon Age Of Aquarius” seven-inch, which is due for release on early April via Cruz Del Sur Music. Featuring artwork from the unofficial seventh member of the band, Timo Raita, and recorded at Semistimiinuksella Studios in Kuopio, Finland, “The Demon Age Of Aquarius” marks the final MAUSOLEUM GATE release for long-time vocalist V-P Varpula, but also introduces new singer Jarno Saarinen and guitarist Jari Kourunen.

Due to his commitments at Austria’s Opera House Graz, Varpula departed MAUSOLEUM GATE last May. Saarinen was quickly tapped as his replacement and makes his presence known on the seven-inch’s title track. However, in an almost unprecedented move, Varpula gets a proper send-off on the seven-inch’s other cut, “Before The Snake Sneaked In”.

“When we found out V-P’s commitments in Austria would prevent him from continuing in MAUSOLEUM GATE, we immediately got to work in finding a new vocalist,” says guitarist Count L.F. “V-P played his last show with us in June, we added Jarno and Jari after that and spent most of the summer and autumn working them into our lineup. From this, we came up with ‘The Demon Age Of Aquarius’, which was one of the new tracks we worked on.”

The two songs here showcase how multi-faceted MAUSOLEUM GATE has become. While they’re still rooted firmly in traditional metal and ’70s proto-rock, the band is also able to take some risks. “‘The Demon Age Of Aquarius’ is a heavy and groovy SABBATH/old JUDAS PRIEST-type of song,” says Count L.F. “The song is heavier than anything we did on ‘Into A Dark Divinity’, with the possible exception of ‘Apophis’. The lyrics are apocalyptic and demonic — very typical for MAUSOLEUM GATE. Despite the fact that there are new members, it still sounds like MAUSOLEUM GATE. Jari plays a solo here, so he was thrown to the wolves from the start!

“‘Before The Snake Sneaked In’ is an unusually bluesy tune for us,” he continues. “There’s a bit of ZEPPELIN in there and some funky ’70’s stuff, maybe. This is a song that has been with us from the very beginning — our very first lineup played it years back. The lyrics deal loosely with gnostic interpretation of the creation, but more importantly, we see it as a ‘goodbye’ from the old lineup.”

MAUSOLEUM GATE, as is their tradition, has always issued a stop-gap seven-inch between proper studio albums. With Saarinen and Kourunen getting themselves acclimated, there is no better time than now, especially with some live shows on the horizon.

“We have our first gig with the new lineup in late March at Heavy Metal Nights in Helsinki if all goes as planned,” concludes Count L.F. “We’re going to do some more gigs with the new lineup, which will help get the wheels rolling as we start to think about a new album. A lot of exciting things are ahead for MAUSOLEUM GATE!”

“The Demon Age Of Aquarius” track listing:

  1. The Demon Age Of Aquarius
  2. Before The Snake Sneaked In