"Proto-doom at its best! Fuzz pedals are absent and the
guitars are driven by a warm tube amp drive." -- More Fuzz
"I really can't rave enough about how great this album
is."-- Doomed and Stoned
"The Trondheim-based outfit are in the process of carving
out their own niche aesthetically, and they're doing so with the sharpest of
teeth." -- The Obelisk
Norwegian quintet Dunbarrow share the first track from their
forthcoming sophomore album on RidingEasy Records today via The Obelisk. Hear
and share "The Wolf" HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
There's a hauntingly classic feel to Dunbarrow's sound that
gives it, in the band's own words, "an eerie rawness." It's not raw
in a lo-fi or distorted sense -- far from it, the production is exceptionally
clean and powerful. It's the vibe to the music that has a dreamlike and ghostly
quality, like a mysterious recording imprinted onto an old cassette tape.
Dunbarrow's pristine, unadorned sound shares the
unpretentious brilliance of classic heavy progenitors jamming in basements and
barns, before the big budgets and bloated habits diluted hard rock records into
an echo chamber awash in reverb and layered in distant, screeching hobbits.
"It's a heavy sounding record without being just tons of over-distorted
guitar tracks," says guitarist Kenneth Lønning. "We've never been
fascinated by that, and we're trying to push in the other direction." Its
heft comes from the band's use of space in their songs.
Without the Haugesund, Norway quintet's exceptional
musicianship, such an intimate sound would be impossible. Drummer Pål Gunnar
Dale sets the skeletal core with driving urgency and tastefully punctuating
triplet fills, Bassist Sondre Berge Engedal slinks throughout with the limber
bounce of John Paul Jones, while Lønning's and Eirik Øvregård's guitars weave
dark, bluesy tapestries with emphasis on melodic chord structures without
burying them in distortion or other effects. Vocalist Espen Andersen ties it all
together with his warm, folky delivery that gives it all the feel of a bygone
era of storytelling in song.
"Maybe more than the previous record, this one is more
vocal driven," Lønning says. "But it still has those quirky
transitions, eerie build ups, folk-inspired parts and the haunting solos."
Many of the album's poetic lyrics were written by former bassist/vocalist
Richard Chappell, whose writing personifies the group. Along with the album's
running theme of love and despair, is that of recognizing one's own dark sides
and developing your shadows into something you can control, inspired of the
work by Carl Jung.
Key to the band's impressive sound is that the singer is
also the recording and mixing engineer. Andersen also recorded the band's
excellent 2016 debut (formally released wordlwide by RidingEasy in late 2017),
now with more studio experience for both Andersen and the band, Dunbarrow II is
a truly refined experience. To further perfect their sound, the group teamed up
with one of the most prominent producers in Norway, Christer Cederberg
(Anathema, Tristania) for the first few days in order to get the sound just
right. Then, Espen did the rest. The result is as eponymous and definitive as
its title.
Dunbarrow II will be available on LP, CD and download on
September 14th, 2018 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.
Artist: Dunbarrow
Album: Dunbarrow II
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release Date: September 14th, 2018
01. On Your Trail
02. Please Let Me Be
03. Weary Lady
04. Ode To The Moon
05. Feberdrøm
06. The Wolf
07. The Demon Within
08. Witches Of The Woods Pt. II
09. On This Night
On The Web:
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