While Minnesota-based Middle Ages-inspired metal clan, OBSEQUIAE, prepares for the looming release of its Aria Of Vernal Tombs sophomore LP through 20 Buck Spin this May, the diehard followers of the band at No Clean Singing have publicly unveiled exclusive streams of the album’s first two tracks, as the vernal equinox nears this week.
Aria Of Vernal Tombs leads off with “Ay Que Por Muy Fremosura,” a fully classical/medieval harp movement, which flows directly into “Autumnal Pyre,” where the band’s slick metal becomes infused into the process. Issues No Clean Singing alongside the exclusive premiere of the band’s new works, “There are all sorts of reasons why the passage of time between a band’s releases can grow to the space of three and a half years. In the case of OBSEQUIAE, it is largely a result of the care devoted to the craftsmanship of the music’s creation. The Middle Ages seem to have exerted their influence on the band in more ways than one, not merely providing an ancient template for Vicente La Camera Mariño’s harp music. ‘Ay Que Por Muy Gran Fremosura’ shimmers with the melody of Mariño’s harp like dappled light on a woodland stream. The piece is one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of 13th-Century poems with musical notation created in the Galician region of Castille. The music is graceful and entrancing and it echoes as if performed under the vault of a cathedral. While ‘Autumnal Pyre’ begins with the stately sound of a cathedral organ, it vaults into the modern age as the traditional instruments of metal make their appearance, but the music doesn’t lose its link to the medieval era.”
Explore the realms OBSEQUIAE’s Aria Of Vernal Tombs fuses via No Clean Singing RIGHT HERE.
Following their 2014 vinyl issue of OBSEQUIAE‘s masterfully unique 2011 debut album, Suspended In The Brume Of Eos, 20 Buck Spin will release Aria Of Vernal Tombs on CD and through digital outlets on May 12th, and will follow with the LP version on June 9th with both physical versions delivered in gorgeous, foil stamped packages.
OBSEQUIAE‘s sparse, sorrowful harp pieces appearing throughout Aria Of Vernal Tombs provide a foundation on which to base the longer metal-based sagas that form the album’s core. Black metal, death metal, traditional heavy metal and medieval music are all weaved seamlessly together in baroque yet abrasive reverence on Aria…, resulting in a remarkably original long-player. With a wet clarity to the incandescent production that cites underrated obscurities like Sacramentum’s Far Away From The Sun and Eucharist’s A Velvet Creation, along with the early works of Varathron, Samael and Rotting Christ, the atmosphere created on Aria Of Vernal Tombs brings to 2015 what such bands strangely but sincerely captured years ago. Every sound and shimmering tone is intentional and essential to this rite of Spring.
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