New Album “Sworn to Avenge” Out June 25th via Depressive Illusions Records
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 – https://youtu.be/JyJ2xW2oquM
Along with “Sworn to Avenge” album full stream via Black Metal Artists YouTube Channel – https://youtu.be/0OIPlMtj8hE
“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/FtfosCUA7iw
She Gathers Leaves – https://youtu.be/g0nahpQ6O6s
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