Apocalypticism is the debut instrumental album from Louisville-based musician and visual artist RYAN MICHAEL PATTERSON. Best known for his work with Fotocrime, the post-punk group he currently fronts, and Coliseum, the trailblazing hardcore punk band he founded and led from 2003-2015, Patterson steps into thrilling new territory on Apocalypticism.
Inspired equally by the raw and iconic spaghetti western scores by Ennio Morricone and the fizzling crunch of early synth-punk like Suicide and DAF, PATTERSON wrote, performed, and recorded Apocalypticism on his own at his home studio. Created entirely with analog instruments and effects, the album stands apart from the omnipresent generic software synth sounds that pay homage to 1980s soundtracks. Oozing with analog warmth and grit, Apocalypticism presents a unique vision of punk-tinged instrumental songs, ranging from hook-laden themes to tense orchestrated movements. From the first notes of piano through an ancient tape delay, the listener hears the rotating edges of the loop and the crackles of the peeling magnetic tape crossing the echo heads. Throughout the album, jangling Fender Jaguar guitars twang through the pulsing vibrato of Twin Reverb amps while ancient Japanese drum machines throb into deep tube-driven spring reverb tanks.
This sonic concept album enables the listener to hear the soundtrack of a film playing in their own imagination. Apocalypticism is a bold and exciting new chapter in the storied career of RYAN MICHAEL PATTERSON — a musician respected around the globe for his boundless creativity, unique musical perspective, and tireless drive to reach ever-further in his artistic journey.
Apocalypticism was written, performed, recorded, and mixed by RYAN MICHAEL PATTERSON at his own House Of Foto Recording Studio in Louisville, Kentucky between 2020 and 2022, with guest guitar contributions from J. Robbins (Jawbox, Government Issue) on “Melting Horizons.” The album was mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio and completed with photography and design by PATTERSON.
“It’s been very exciting to explore an entirely new sonic landscape that is unique from Fotocrime, Coliseum, and my other bands, while still retaining my musical personality and perspective,” PATTERSON reveals. “Apocalypticism is a concept album that charts a decaying future; the collapse of cities that are overtaken by insects, empty plains scavenged by carnivorous mechanized animals, death cults rising up around alien prophets. This is the soundtrack to the cinema in my mind.”
RYAN MICHAEL PATTERSON’s Apocalypticism is out now on Pax Aeternum, streaming in its entirety at Bandcamp RIGHT HERE and all other DSP’s HERE.
Watch for several official videos from Apocalypticism and more to be issued over the weeks ahead.
Apocalypticism Track Listing:
1. Crime City Collapse
2. March Of The Beetles
3. International Airspace
4. Aelita
5. Melting Horizons
6. Seventy-Seven Mechanical Wolves
7. Kneel To The Queen
8. Can’t Stop What’s Coming
9. Dance Of The Dark
10. The Prophet Arrives
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