Coming from the coldest, windiest, snowiest, and foggiest city in Canada, St. John’s, Newfoundland's Artach is heavily influenced by nature and even takes after the bleak climate they are surrounded by. The result of months of winter provides inspiration for their raw, epic black metal that is in their new album “Sworn to Avenge” , which is now available via Depressive Illusions Records as of June 25th.
As described by Artach , their music is angry, savage, unhinged, but contains melody and some twists and turns to surprise the listener. Varied song tempos mixing blasting with thrashy, punky, doomy elements keep the sounds interesting and not monotone. They go into further detail about releasing their new music video for “Shimmer” for the full length's release day:
“Lyrically, this one is more descriptive and doesn’t have any hidden meanings. Those shimmering and dancing lights of the Aurora Borealis can be seen even here in Newfoundland, but further north they look magnificent. There’s a spoken part in this one taken from a part of a poem by David Vedder (1790-1854) that was written about the Northern Lights. Musically this one is one of the more black metal sounding songs with lots of blast beats but as always, tempered with melody and hand-banging riffage.”
Watch “Shimmer” via its premiere on This Is Black Metal 's YouTube channel -
Along with “Sworn to Avenge” album full stream via Black Metal Artists YouTube Channel -
“Sworn to Avenge” is the second album from Artach , following up 2020’s “Chronicles of a Black Winter”. Fans can expect more of the same compared to the first, but it pushes the envelope a little bit. Artach embraces evolution and aspire to play tighter, and have a more professional sound, but never sound overly polished.
Artach ’s process is a collaborative one between the duo, the genesis of the songs are arranged on guitar by Sruthán and very roughly recorded at home. After getting together, they record drums and flesh out the song in an afternoon and by then the song is pretty much ready for the studio recording of guitars, then bass, and lastly vocals.
Artach is recommended listening for anyone interested in raw black metal and those with an interest in Celtic Frost, Darkthrone, and Satyricon.
“Sworn to Avenge” is available via Depressive Illusions at the following links: DepressiveIllusions.com , Artach.bandcamp.com , Amazon , Spotify .
Previous Lyric Videos:
Into the Frozen Woodlands - https://youtu.be/
She Gathers Leaves -
Track Listing:
1. Tuiteam an Duine (7:08)
2. Ice Throne (5:09)
3. Shimmer (6:35)
4. Endless Tundra (21:35)
5. Into the Frozen Woodlands (4:49)
6. She Gathers Leaves (5:25)
7. Mistress of Black Thorns (6:24)
8. Winter’s End (8:14)
Album Length: 1:05:23
Album Band Line Up:
Fíochmhar: Vocals, Drums, Keyboards
Sruthán: Guitar, Bass
For more info:
Facebook.com/ArtachBlackMetal
Instagram.com/ArtachBlackMetal
EPK
About:
Artach is a two-man black metal band (Sruthán: Guitar/Bass, Fíochmhar: Battery/Vokills/Keys)based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Being from the foggiest, snowiest, wettest, windiest, and gloomiest capital city in Canada, one should not be surprised that this fuels the creation of Black Metal. Their inspiration comes from the land, nature, the bleak weather of the Canadian North, and influential black metal bands.
Since the duo's formation in the spring of 2019, Artach has been consistently releasing new music. The band’s debut album “Chronicles of a Black Winter” was released digitally during February 2020 and later unleashed on physical CD by Depressive Illusions Records. The full length contained 9 songs of extreme, harsh, and haunting sounds, which included a cover of Celtic Frost's 'Jewel Throne'.
Now in 2021, the band returns with their next offering “Sworn To Avenge”, a full-length scourge of raw and relentless bruting gloom. From the calming blasts and savagery of album opener "Tuiteam an Duine" to the ingrained black metal blast beats, and headbanging riffage on "Shimmer" to the 20-minute exploration for the epic "Endless Tundra" about the doomed Franklin expedition of 1846 to the Immortal-esque riffing and unorthodox exorcism of album closer "Winter's End", Artach delivers a 65-minute cold deliverance of their surroundings.
The band adds:
"The music on 'Sworn To Avenge' is a frigid mixture of topics about nature and how it meets and interacts with the darkness of humankind. The desolation of the world, the planet, and the repeated failure of society to evolve to a place where we are a part of nature and not brutish subjugators of everything in our path... these are all themes described throughout many songs. The music is angry, savage, unhinged, but contains melody and some twists and turns to surprise the listener. Varied song tempos mixing blasting with thrashy, punky, doomy elements keep the sounds interesting and not monotone. Song structures often vary and we never limit a song to a certain length. We indulge and have them be as long, or as short as we think feels right."
“Sworn To Avenge” will be available digitally from Artach along with CD and cassette via Depressive Illusions Records on June 2021.
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