"Their most intimate, darkly personal record yet... Taking them out of the doom corner and giving it a raw, post-punk feel. "Raven" sounds like a Satanic, downtuned Steppenwolf, and frankly we can’t get enough." -- Kerrang!
"An intoxicating mix of stoner metal and occultist rock -- it’s dark n’ doomy, sure, but it’s also as catchy as fly paper coated in industrial strength glue." -- Metal Sucks
Austin trio The Well are streaming their forthcoming third album Death and Consolation in its entirety early starting today via Brooklyn Vegan. Hear and share Death and Consolation HERE. (Direct YouTube.)
The Well play several local area shows this week before launching an extensive North American tour in support of the album. Please see current dates below.
Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there's even more darkness and intensity to the band's third album than previous efforts, take heed. It's a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing.
"This one is a little more personal," says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. "2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that's a constant."
While The Well continue to walk an intriguing line between authentic early 70s doom/heavy psych and frayed weirdness of dark folk - especially with their haunting unison male/female vocals - the new album also adds the stark vibe of post-punk acts like Joy Division and early The Cure. "I feel like this album is almost more gothic. We're big fans of post-punk," Graham says. There's also much less jamming, the songs are tight and concise. And, did we mention, heavy? The band tuned down a full step to C-standard tuning for this album, which gives the proceedings its monstrous sound.
Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well -- Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan -- left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band's debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band's intense -- some even say "possessed" -- live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin's Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more.
"This album might be a little less produced, because I didn't want to push technical stuff as much," Graham says. "I'm so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock."
Death and Consolation will be available on LP, CD and download on April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.
THE WELL TOUR 2019:
04/24 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
04/25 Austin, TX @ Barracuda * - album release party
04/27 Austin, TX @ Independence Brewery
04/28 Austin, TX @ Waterloo Records
04/29 San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
05/01 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *
05/02 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
05/03 Phoenix, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
05/04 Los Angeles, CA @ House of Machines
05/05 Long Beach, CA @ Alex's Bar
05/06 Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
05/07 Nevada City, CA @ Cooper's
05/08 San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room
05/09 Portland, OR @ High Water Mark
05/10 Seattle, WA @ Substation
05/11 Vancouver, BC @ Static Jupiter
05/12 Calgary, AB @ Palomino
05/13 Edmonton, AB @ Temple
05/14 Winnipeg, MB @ The Windsor
05/15 Minneapolis, MN @ Cabooze
05/16 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
05/17 Colorado Springs, CO @ Triple Nickle
05/18 Taos, NM @ Monolith on the Mesa Fest
05/19 El Paso, TX @ Monarch
* w/ Monolord
Artist: The Well
Album: Death and Consolation
Label: RidingEasy Records
Release date: April 26th, 2019
01. Sabbah
02. Raven
03. Death Song
04. Cup of Peace
05. Eyes of A God
06. Act II
07. Freedom Above
08. This Is How
09. Endless Night
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