Seer

VITAL SPIRIT set release date for HIDDEN TRIBE debut EP – features members of WORMWITCH and SEER

Today, Hidden Tribe Records announces August 28th as the international release date for Vital Spirit‘s striking debut EP, In The Faith That Looks Through Death, on cassette tape and digital formats.

Although a new entity in the flesh, Vital Spirit in fact is a special collaboration between two scene veterans: Kyle Tavares (Seer, Wormwitch) and Israel Langlais (Wormwitch). Riffs for their first recording were written during and between Wormwitch’s 2018 and 2019 American tours, influenced heavily by the land and history. Demos were then completed while locked down during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In The Faith That Looks Through Death, that first recording of Vital Spirit, is a remarkably accomplished work that breathes new life into black metal’s tired ‘n’ often-trite corpse. “Harrowing ballads imbued with the enduring spirit of the Americas” is how the duo describes this four-song/17-minute work, and indeed will one find the windswept grandeur of the Wild West writ large across this potent ‘n’ poignant short-length. Right from the start, the surge is searingly familiar of black metal’s most steadfast expression, but Vital Spirit‘s iteration of such soon takes on a wily ‘n’ wending contour all its own, dramatically dusted with a yearning melodicism redolent of the Spaghetti Western films of the 1960s. Musically, it’s part and parcel of the EP’s lyrical content, which ranges from Mayan cosmology and history, Pancho Villa’s role in the Mexican Revolution, and Wovoka’s Ghost Dance movement.
Vital Spirit are not shy about their influences. Lyrics are said to be inspired by the words of Wovoka, Patti Smith, Chilam Balam, Townes Van Zandt, and the corridos of the Mexican Revolution. They list their musical influences as Ennio Morricone, Taake, Earth, Ulver, Marty Robbins, Dissection, Drudkh, Inquisition, and Wovenhand. A varied and idiosyncratic pool of inspiration, to be sure, and suitably do the duo transform all these seemingly disparate threads into something completely, uniquely their own. Thus, Vital Spirit join other contemporaries breathing new life into black metal like Vanum, Wiegedood, Ash Borer, Turia, Verwoed, Anicon, Void Omnia, Yellow Eyes, and Fluisteraars.

Vital Spirit‘s In The Faith That Looks Through Death was recorded and engineered by Tim Creviston (Wormwitch, Seer) and mixed & mastered by Andrew Oswald (Vanum, Ash Borer, Superstition). The cassette edition will be the first release of Tavares’ label Hidden Tribe Records. ¡viva la revolución!

First track premiere and preorder info to be announced shortly. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Vital Spirit’s In The Faith That Looks Through Death
1. Heart of Sky [3:53]
2. Centaur [4:55]
3. Face of the Sun [3:29]
4. Ghost Dance [4:22]
VITAL SPIRIT lineup
Kyle Tavares – vocals, guitar, bass
Israel Langlais – drums


MORE INFO:
www.vitalspirit.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/hiddentriberecords

Canadian Doom Meisters Seer premier “They Used Dark Forces” from their new album

Today, Canadian earth-movers Seer premiere the new track “They Used Dark Forces” below. The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated second album, Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void, set for international release on July 7th via Art of Propaganda.

Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Seer was formed in the fall of 2014 as the days drew short and a chill set in the air. Very much a product of their environment, the band draws inspiration from the natural power of the Pacific Northwest and harnesses it into epic, expansive doom-sludge. Amid the region’s awe-inspiring mountains, serene temperate rainforests, and immense Pacific Ocean, Seer’s backyard is occupied by lakes, rivers, evergreens and abundant wildlife. Such a proximity and affinity to the local natural world has kindled a deep and ever-present connection to nature for Seer, resonating in an authentic and organic approach to their music. This combined with a true rock ‘n’ roll spirit and inclination toward fantasy, science fiction, and the occult make up the foundation on which Seer lays its colossal riffs and Cascadian atmospherics, all of which overflowed across the vast vistas of their debut album, Vol. 1 & 2 – released early last year by Art of Propaganda to widespread critical acclaim – and which overflow even further across the even vaster follow-up, Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void.

Whereas Vol. 1 & 2 patiently built its walls of tectonic, sludge-strewn doom, right from the very beginning, Seer explode into Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void with an immediacy that’s startling to behold. In fact, with its preponderance of harmonic, instantly hummable riffage and more pronounced usage of clean vocals, one could be mistaken that this is almost a different band. But alas, it’s somewhere between the proverbial red herring and deceptive calling card, as Seer here brim with an infectious confidence that allows them to incorporate – anywhere, anytime, at will – more diverse (and more accessible) elements into their still-moltenly-overflowing sound. There’s more peaks and more valleys – and tons more rolling hills, whereby the band can charge forward with straight-up stoner and even grunge tropes – across Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void, and the manner in which Seer sew them altogether suggests an entity at the height of its powers. No one-dimensional, endlessly tedious chugging here: the paths are long and winding across this album, and the listener never quite knows where they’ll go next. And yet, Seer still put emphasis on the thematic and conceptual, and after the addicting rabble-rousing of its first half, the latter half of Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void goes into more spacious ‘n’ desolate territory, with a grandiose, almost gothic Americana aesthetic completing the album’s arc. It’s a fitting, fearless end for a young band who are just now becoming cognizant of their poignant power: this is Canada’s Seer anno 2017.

The next manifestation of that power can be felt exclusively HERE, courtesy of NoCleanSinging.com. Feel that power in visual form with the video for “They Used Dark Forces,” which can be seen/heard exclusively HERE at Art of Propaganda’s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Seer’s Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void
1. Ancient Sands (Rot Preacher)
2. Acid Sweat
3. They Used Dark Forces
4. Burnt Offerings
5. I: Tribe of Shuggnyth
6. II: Spirit River
7. III: Passage of Tears
8. संसार