OBSIDIAN KINGDOM are now revealing the first new track taken from their forthcoming full-length ‘A Year With No Summer’, which has been slated for worldwide release on March 11th. The song “Away / Absent” is exclusively premiered via the official media partners below.
“Away / Absent” the band states: “What if artificial paradises could last forever? ‘Away / Absent’ is a song about not being here, but not being quite there yet, either. It is a frozen frame in a huge leap to the void, as if one could endlessly cherish the joys of letting go, without having to hit the ground, ever. But this time, your daily dose of evasive drugs is going to taste a little bit more sour. Prepare yourself for ‘A Year With No Summer’.”
OBSIDIAN KINGDOMare simultaneously unveiling the artwork and track list of ‘A Year With No Summer’, which can be viewed in the limited Digipak version below.
Tracklisting
1. A Year With No Summer
2. 10th April
3. Darkness
4. The Kandinsky Group
5. The Polyarnik
6. Black Swan
7. Away / Absent
OBSIDIAN KINGDOM have been cunningly avoiding easy categorisation since their inception in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, Spain, where the band was formed in 2005.
Their sophomore album ‘A Year With No Summer’ is now adding to the eclectic puzzle and a big step in an continuing evolution. To say that the Catalans move further away from their roots in extreme metal and towards a more progressive sound is equally correct as misleading. There are still burning guitars and harsh riffing to be found, yet there is also simply much more of everything else. Contrasts, shifts, and raw emotions created and guided by intricate rhythm patterns, electronic tapestries as well as highlights are combined into a carefully composed musical painting of monumental dimensions. There are hints of the epic approach offered by such influences as PINK FLOYD and MARILLION, yet OBSIDIAN KINGDOM use a far darker range of colours on their pallet. There is a constant sense of drowning, darkness and depression threading through ‘A Year With No Summer’, which binds the wide stylistic range offered by its diverse song material together.
When the Catalan newcomers self-released their debut full-length ‘Mantiis – An Agony in Fourteen Bites’ in 2012, the 500 copies they had pressed sold out in a blink of an eye. Their conceptual album on a violent crime and its dramatic repercussions features a single song divided into fourteen tracks, which flow through different genres. ‘Mantiis’ progressive character and post-modern approach set against extreme metal prefigures the even larger step now taken by ‘A Year With No Summer’
OBSIDIAN KINGDOM once again follow new paths in an untiring search for their own unique expression unhindered by conventions or style boundaries. This is a record to get your headphones on and listen with diligence to be rewarded with the pleasure of finding great music off those tracks already taken too many times before.
Line-up Zer0 Æmeour Íggdrasil: keys and vocals Ojete Mordaza II: drums Rider G Omega: guitars and vocals Seerborn Ape Tot: guitars Om Rex Orale: bass
Guest vocals Attila Csihar (MAYHEM) – “The Kandinsky Group” Kristoffer “Garm” Rygg (ULVER) – “10th April”
When my old buddy Kenn Jensen asked me if I wanted to contribute to the new site he had created, then called powermetal.dk, I didn't hesitate. My love for metal music was and is great. I wrote my first review during the summer of 2004 (Moonspell's 'Antidote' album). In 2015, I took over the editor-in-chief role.
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