Photo by Travis Shinn
BLACK MATH HORSEMAN’s eponymous new comeback EP is currently streaming in its otherworldly entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release Friday, October 21st via Profound Lore Records.
In 2009, BLACK MATH HORSEMAN released their debut album, Wyllt. The band’s music was unlike almost everything that existed at the time. It was hypnotic, heavy, sonic alchemy that seemed to emanate from another time, another place. The members — vocalist/bassist Sera Timms, guitarists Ian Barry and Bryan Tulao, and drummer Sasha Popovic — had somehow tapped into heavy music’s collective subconscious. A European tour, along with appearances at Roadburn and Primavera Sound, solidified BLACK MATH HORSEMAN’s reputation as a mesmerizing live band. Then, just a few years later, they were gone.
Thirteen years later, their follow-up to Wyllt makes it seem as if the band never stopped playing together. A trance-inducing journey to the center of humanity’s inner turmoil, Black Math Horseman is meant to be listened to as a single, continuous composition.
Stream Black Math Horseman in full at THIS LOCATION.
View the band’s previously released video for first single, “The Bough,” at THIS LOCATION.
Black Math Horseman will be released on vinyl and digital formats. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.
Conceptually and lyrically, Black Math Horseman continues the storyline from Wyllt, which follows the mysterious character known as the Black Math Horseman. “This is where the character really comes into full bloom with their ‘black math,’ which is aggressive, manipulative reality shaping,” Timms explains.
“The essence of the album is overcoming a great enemy, a great adversarial force, and reaching a place of harmony that has never been found before,” she continues. “You go to a dark place and destroy relationships that you love, all based on ego. Eventually, you have nothing. And when you have nothing, you have to find a new way of doing things. That’s where we’re at now as a band and family, and that’s also the theme of the record.”
Much of Black Math Horseman was recorded in the band’s rehearsal space with engineer Manny Nieto. Covid lockdown kicked in the very next day, so Timms didn’t track her vocals —this time in the studio — until five months later. All subsequent overdubs and mixing were handled by Ian Barry, with guidance from Ben Chisholm.
Though the album was composed as one long song, the band divided it into chapters to accommodate today’s listening habits. Gorgeous centerpiece, and first single, “The Bough” captures a moment of clarity in the main character’s trajectory. “‘The Bough’ is essentially that moment when you realize you have been courting an illusion,” Timms explains. “You’ve put every bit of your heart and soul into courting this illusion, but when you realize that there’s nothing behind it, you want to destroy everything — not only the illusion, but reality and yourself. It’s that lightning bolt of clarity that comes through destruction — that’s what the song is.”
“…a haunting, slow-building and absolutely stunning post-metal epic…” — Revolver
“BLACK MATH HORSEMAN have crafted a stunningly gorgeous EP and woven their mesmeric magic throughout. With celestial vocals and aggressive riffing augmenting the complex emotional journey, you experience so much within such a short space of time. It is a triumphant return and then some.” – Distorted Sound
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