As Tempest, the debut LP from Bay Area funeral doom unit LYCUS nears release this July 9th via Washington-based 20 Buck Spin, today the public’s first undertaking of the album’s mammoth tonal thunder has been released with a new single.
The opening track from the crushing three-song Tempest, “Coma Burn” rides out with nearly twelve minutes of LYCUS‘ epic decadence and slow-motion dirge riffs, culminating both low-end growls with a booming midtone clean vocal styles into endlessly hollow abyss of black tides and lost souls. Imagine Ahab fighting Mournful Congregation in an amp battle, with some harrowing violin and gothic action infiltrating the slug-paced melee. Yes.
Immerse yourself in a blacked-out inferno with “Coma Burn” via Pitchfork RIGHT HERE.
Having existed since 2008 in some form or another, LYCUS entered hometown Earhammer Studios with Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil, Asunder, Pallbearer, Vastum, Samothrace, High On Fire), who captured and mixed the band’s immense Tempest LP. A mature, diverse and utterly monumental album, the three massive hymns on Tempest range between nine-and-a-half minutes to over twenty. The canvas of this masterwork is classic funeral doom in the territory of Mournful Congregation, Asunder and My Dying Bride, yet the template is varied as LYCUS’ palette includes shades of hysteric black metal, old-school death doom pummeling, and even a bit of pull from noise/drone realms. Featuring an incredible oil painting by the Italian madman Paolo Girardi as cover art and a regal layout by Kevin Gan Yuen of Sutekh Hexen (who also contributes musically to the album’s closing moments), Tempest is the most promising debut of 2013 in the doom genre.
LYCUS is planning U.S. Summer tour actions across the West Coast with dates to be announced shortly, and will traverse the continent to wash away the East Coast in the Autumn months.
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