Photo by Tomás Robertson
Rising from the boggy marshes of the United Kingdom comes dark ambient funeral doom outfit LOCUSTS AND HONEY and their debut LP, Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed, set for release on May 24th on their new label home of Toronto, Ontario-based Hypaethral Records.
Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed is a meditation on death and living well, inspired by the bog bodies of Ireland and Denmark – people of the Iron Age who were sacrificially hanged and found extremely well-preserved in peat. Crafted with meticulous care, this opus of dejection comprises a one, sprawling twenty-eight-minute odyssey broken up into six movements.
Rooted in the fertile soil of early ’90s doom (Corrupted, Winter, Esoteric), infused with the raw essence of black metal (Strid, Darkthrone), and bathed in the ethereal embrace of cinematic soundscapes (William Basinski, Henryk Górecki, Coil), LOCUSTS AND HONEY conjures a sonic maelstrom that traverses the realms of darkness and despair. Vocalist Stephen Murray’s anguished growls, which invoke memories of Lee Dorian, are intertwined with the melancholic melodies of multi-instrumentalist Tomás Robertson to cast a spell of sorrow and fury upon all who dare to listen.
Since their inception in the Autumn of 2023, LOCUSTS AND HONEY has transported listeners into a realm where shadows reign supreme; where each haunting note is a dagger to the heart and each mournful chord a lament for the lost. Prepare to be enveloped by their harrowing embrace as they unleash their debut LP upon the world, casting a pall of darkness that lingers long after the final note has faded into the void.
In advance of the release of Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed, today the duo unveils “Traitor To Love,” which showcases the more atmospheric/dark ambient black metal side of the band.
Robertson elaborates, “The record vacillates between melancholy and menace; it’s as much about sorrow as it is anger.”
Adds Murray, “During the writing of Teach Me to Live…, Tom had become fixated with the bog bodies of Northern Europe and Denmark. I read into this subject a little as I listened to the music Tom was coming up with, and it became quickly apparent that the lyrics would be meditations on death and what it is to live well.”
Stream “Traitor To Love” at THIS LOCATION.
Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed was mastered by Greg Dawson at BWC Studios, renowned for his work with luminaries such as Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust, and Olde and will be released on limited edition vinyl (100 Peaty Bog and 100 Black) and digital formats.
Find preorders at the Hypaethral Records webshop HERE or Bandcamp HERE.
Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed Track Listing:
- Surfeit Of Lampreys
- Leathern Cord
- Confraternities Of The Cord
- Beauty And Atrocity
- Traitor To Love
- Damnation Of Memoriae
Founded in 2012, Hypaethral Records stands as one of the preeminent labels in the realms of doom and blackened metal. The LOCUSTS AND HONEY LP will stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside releases by atmospheric doomsayers QAALM, suffocating drone from Gates, and the raw blackened crust of Ramlord.
LOCUSTS AND HONEY:
Tomás Robertson – all music
Stephen Murray – vocals, lyrics
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