PRESS RELEASE:
Portland post-doom metal collective BURIAL CLOUDS will release their stunning new full-length, Burn Holy, on May 22nd.
BURIAL CLOUDS’ music lives in constant tension between beauty and rage, crushing riffs and intricate expanses walking the lines between inner and outer worlds, healing ritual and seditious fire. Every song is a meditation on what it means to live with a gentle, livid heart in an inhuman age.
The band’s debut album – 2023’s Last Days Of A Dying World released via Church Road Records – was met with praise from both fans and critics alike. Kerrang likened it to “walking into the ocean and being crushed by the waves,” while Outlaws Of The Sun lauded a record that’s as “…heavy, epic, and emotional as they come.”
Subsequently, they embarked on a successful run through their home turf of the Pacific Northwest, followed by a UK tour, culminating in an appearance at the renowned Arctangent Fest. The following year saw significant lineup changes. Founders Matt Mitchell and Flynn Hargreaves remain on guitar and bass respectively. Marina Lavelle, who was the central figure in the video for “Beirut Shores,” makes her debut with vocals that range from searing, unhinged hostility to delicate vulnerability and soaring expressiveness. Her introduction brings a new and enthralling dynamic to both the sound and perspective of BURIAL CLOUDS music. Bryce Ramsey, previously of Trials, a juggernaut of a player whose approach is as soulful as it is technical, has been recruited on guitar. The multi-talented Tim Iserman, of Salo and Beguile and formerly of Ritual Veil, brings their ferocious, feral energy to the drums. From the crucible of songwriting and DIY recording and production, a newly reformed BURIAL CLOUDS emerged with their best work to date: Burn Holy.
Elaborates Mitchell on the creation of Burn Holy, "We set out to make this record more intense in every direction than Last Days... Prettier and heavier, more gentle, vicious, intense, technically challenging, you name it. Having Marina on vocals has allowed us to highlight aspects of the music that might have otherwise been missed. She's able to access dimensions of expression the rest of us just can't. The depth that Bryce's killer backups bring can't go unmentioned either; the combination of the two creates greater than the sum of its parts. Burn Holy took more or less a year for us to write, starting about three months after the first record came out. There was no regular process. Some songs had the instrumental written first, vocals later. Some were all at once, some were a back-and-forth iterative process of rearranging, rewriting, rinse and repeat. As they developed, each song developed its own voice. We tried above all else to listen to what they told us was needed, and far more often than not, we all heard the same thing. Some songs went through upwards of 10 or 12 versions. It was a very intense process, and I think we all feel, because of that, that this is literally the best record we were capable of making at that point.”
In advance of the release, today the band unveils first single, “Be Not Afraid.” Offers Mitchell, "‘Be Not Afraid’ is ultimately about fear and awe and the consequences of their manipulation. We wanted to express our resistance to that, in the dynamics of the music, with a feeling of relentlessness and spiritual inevitability. Like erosive crashing waves or the fury of a mother protecting her young... You use whatever tools you have to rebalance the scales."
Watch BURIAL CLOUDS’ “Be Not Afraid” video HERE. Stream the track HERE.
Burn Holy was written, engineered, recorded, and mixed by BURIAL CLOUDS, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. The record will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats.
Find preorders at the BURIAL CLOUDS Bandcamp HERE.
Burn Holy Track Listing [Digital]:
1. Burning The Olive Tree
2. Windflower
3. Ashen Altar
4. Negations
5. Be Not Afraid
6. Screaming, Drowning Pacified
7. Forget Me Not
8. Eyes Without Light
Burn Holy Track Listing [Vinyl]:
A Side:
1. Burning the Olive Tree
2. Windflower
3. Be Not Afraid
4. Negations
B Side:
1. Ashen Altar
2. Screaming, Drowning Pacified
3. Forget Me Not
4. Eyes Without Light
BURIAL CLOUDS:
Matt Mitchell – guitar
Flynn Hargreaves – bass
Marina Lavelle – vocals
Bryce Ramsey – guitar
Tim Iserman – drums
https://www.instagram.com/burial_clouds
https://burialclouds.bandcamp.com
