Doom Metal

Today, Svart Records announces the signing of HALLATAR. The first fruit of this union shall be the band's debut album, No Stars Upon the Bridge, which is based on the lyrics and poems of Aleah Starbridge, and is tentatively slated for release this autumn.

Although a brand-new name, Hallatar features among its ranks Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity guitarist Juha Raivio, Amorphis vocalist Tomi Joutsen, and former HIM drummer Gas Lipstick. In fact, one could see Hallatar as an extension of Trees of Eternity, whose massively acclaimed debut for Svart, Trees of Eternity, served as the swansong of vocalist Aleah Starbridge.

Juha Raivio explains the genesis of Hallatar: "After the death of my beloved and my life partner Aleah Starbridge last April, I have been gathering writings, lyrics, and the poems of Aleah to keep them safe and close to my heart. About one month after the world came down on the blackest day of my life on April 18th, I knew I needed to pick up the guitar and try to create something or I would be truly destroyed. And something did arrive out of the darkness, and I wrote the music for the Hallatar album in a week's time. I don’t have much memory of this week, not a memory of a single day of writing the music. But all I remember when going into this abyss of the writing process was a promise to myself that whatever music would come out, I would not touch or change anything of it afterwards. What mattered was that the music would stay forever as an absolute truth of those moments as they came out. I asked my good friends - and amazing musicians - Tomi Joutsen and Gas Lipstick if they would want to record this music with me, and both of them said yes without even hearing a note of it. I am forever grateful to both of them for sharing this road with me; even the weight of the process has not been easy to carry, or will be."

Adds Gas Lipstick, "I am grateful and very honored to be asked to join this band. Juha is a dear friend of mine since many years ago, and when he told me about his vision for Hallatar and asked me to join, I said yes instantly - I just had to be part of this amazing journey. I had never heard a single note of the music before I gave my 'yes' because I didn't need to. Juha has been one of my favorite songwriters already for years, and I knew that Hallatar will be a very deep, personal, and one-of-a-kind story which I wanted to help him to bring alive."

Continues Tomi Joutsen: "I have known Juha from the year 2007, when we worked together for the first time. A couple years ago, I had the privilege to meet Juha's life partner, Aleah Starbridge, who was such a beautiful person, inside and outside, and had an angelic voice out of this world. Aleah lent her voice on the latest Amorphis album, and we called her 'the whispering ghost.' When I heard about Aleah's passing last spring, it came as a total shock and heartbreaking news out of the blue. When Juha asked me if I would want to be part of this album and carry Aleah's flame with him, I didn't have to think twice. When everything has been taken, all that is left is the music. The sorrow strips us naked and leave us humble - this is how it sounds like."

Concludes Raivio, "What we recorded was a raw moment in time honoring the memory, lyrics, and poems of Aleah Starbridge with all its pain, beauty and darkness. There are no stars left upon the bridge to light the way anymore, but the music will always be a dim light, even in the darkest of the night."

HALLATAR is:
Tomi Joutsen - vocals
Gas Lipstick - drums
Juha Raivio - guitar, bass, keys
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This is gonna rule.
 
I was always very impressed by the loyal relationship between My Dying Bride and Peaceville. They stayed together for so many years .... quite rare.
So I have mixed feelings about this:

"It is with great pleasure that MY DYING BRIDE can announce they will be joining forces with the formidable Nuclear Blast Records in early 2017 and have already begun working on material for the next LP and singles. It is no secret that Nuclear Blast have continued to expand greatly over the years, signing epic bands from all corners of the world and giving them the chance they deserve to make something of themselves in the ever expanding metal scene. And it’s time that MY DYING BRIDE came along for the ride. We are hoping that this wedding between a very solid label and a well established act will bear fruit of mighty proportions in the exciting years to come.

Cheers!"

I'm more gutted I can't see this:
... on April 22nd, the Brits will expose their legendary album »Turn Loose The Swans« in its entire length at Roadburn Festival. Together with Shaun 'Winter' Taylor-Steels on drums and a special backdrop lighting, the band will haunt the Dutch stage and deliver a truly unique experience.
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I have something else to do: Iron Maiden.
 
They go fast indeed. But this time some days did not sell out before last week (it took more than a month). Even if not sold out, I rather do not miss Maiden.
Crappy planning for people who are into both bands (who toured together in 1995 ;) ).
 
Night Prowler said:
Today, Svart Records announces the signing of HALLATAR. The first fruit of this union shall be the band's debut album, No Stars Upon the Bridge, which is based on the lyrics and poems of Aleah Starbridge, and is tentatively slated for release this autumn.

Although a brand-new name, Hallatar features among its ranks Swallow the Sun and Trees of Eternity guitarist Juha Raivio, Amorphis vocalist Tomi Joutsen, and former HIM drummer Gas Lipstick. In fact, one could see Hallatar as an extension of Trees of Eternity, whose massively acclaimed debut for Svart, Trees of Eternity, served as the swansong of vocalist Aleah Starbridge.

Juha Raivio explains the genesis of Hallatar: "After the death of my beloved and my life partner Aleah Starbridge last April, I have been gathering writings, lyrics, and the poems of Aleah to keep them safe and close to my heart. About one month after the world came down on the blackest day of my life on April 18th, I knew I needed to pick up the guitar and try to create something or I would be truly destroyed. And something did arrive out of the darkness, and I wrote the music for the Hallatar album in a week's time. I don’t have much memory of this week, not a memory of a single day of writing the music. But all I remember when going into this abyss of the writing process was a promise to myself that whatever music would come out, I would not touch or change anything of it afterwards. What mattered was that the music would stay forever as an absolute truth of those moments as they came out. I asked my good friends - and amazing musicians - Tomi Joutsen and Gas Lipstick if they would want to record this music with me, and both of them said yes without even hearing a note of it. I am forever grateful to both of them for sharing this road with me; even the weight of the process has not been easy to carry, or will be."

Adds Gas Lipstick, "I am grateful and very honored to be asked to join this band. Juha is a dear friend of mine since many years ago, and when he told me about his vision for Hallatar and asked me to join, I said yes instantly - I just had to be part of this amazing journey. I had never heard a single note of the music before I gave my 'yes' because I didn't need to. Juha has been one of my favorite songwriters already for years, and I knew that Hallatar will be a very deep, personal, and one-of-a-kind story which I wanted to help him to bring alive."

Continues Tomi Joutsen: "I have known Juha from the year 2007, when we worked together for the first time. A couple years ago, I had the privilege to meet Juha's life partner, Aleah Starbridge, who was such a beautiful person, inside and outside, and had an angelic voice out of this world. Aleah lent her voice on the latest Amorphis album, and we called her 'the whispering ghost.' When I heard about Aleah's passing last spring, it came as a total shock and heartbreaking news out of the blue. When Juha asked me if I would want to be part of this album and carry Aleah's flame with him, I didn't have to think twice. When everything has been taken, all that is left is the music. The sorrow strips us naked and leave us humble - this is how it sounds like."

Concludes Raivio, "What we recorded was a raw moment in time honoring the memory, lyrics, and poems of Aleah Starbridge with all its pain, beauty and darkness. There are no stars left upon the bridge to light the way anymore, but the music will always be a dim light, even in the darkest of the night."

HALLATAR is:
Tomi Joutsen - vocals
Gas Lipstick - drums
Juha Raivio - guitar, bass, keys
Click to expand...

This is gonna rule.
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Here it is!


:bigsurprise:
 
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So just out of curiosity, how many Ahab fans are there around here? They're a favorite of mine, and Call of the Wretched Sea is one of the greatest albums of all time. Curious to know if anyone else loves them as well.
 
Diesel 11 said:
So just out of curiosity, how many Ahab fans are there around here? They're a favorite of mine, and Call of the Wretched Sea is one of the greatest albums of all time. Curious to know if anyone else loves them as well.
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Hey, funnily enough, without reading your post I discovered them today! :D And it's absolutely awesome. I have probably never heard funeral doom done better.

My post about an hour ago in the NP thread

JudasMyGuide said:
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Wow. This is pretty awesome. If you have but the slightest respect for funeral doom this is a must.

Funny, now I have two favourite mid-2000's doom-based extreme albums with Moby Dick as a concept, with an utterly awesome cover art thereof :D
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Also, sorry to bump an old post, but regarding Songs from the North

Mosh said:
That sounds awesome! There was a jazz triple album released this year called The Epic. It's intense. No other triple albums I can think of off the top of my head though. Looking forward to hearing that.
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The same year gave us The Paragon Trisaigon, by Potmos Hetoimos

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Another triple album, this time "Christian atmospheric sludge / doom / post- / avantgarde / whatever" (there's a jazzy saxophone solo right there in the first track!), but mainly doom at the core, I believe.

Definitely worth a spin, it's a very eclectic and ... intensive experience.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Hey, funnily enough, without reading your post I discovered them today! :D And it's absolutely awesome. I have probably never heard funeral doom done better.
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That's cool! :D Actually, outside of Sabbath, they're the only doom metal band I've been able to get into, probably because Moby Dick is an all time favorite, or maybe because I don't listen to much doom in the first place.:innocent: But yeah, they're great.
 
Diesel 11 said:
That's cool! :D Actually, outside of Sabbath, they're the only doom metal band I've been able to get into, probably because Moby Dick is an all time favorite, or maybe because I don't listen to much doom in the first place.:innocent:
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I'm realising that actually a lot of my favourite metal bands might usually be at least somehow doom influenced (if not doom itself, then at least stoner or sludge). I actually like it a lot.

All because of Kyuss and their Blues for the Red Sun - that one got me into doom in general and especially into stoner. :D
 
Also check out Songs from the North by Swallow the Sun, it's been already mentioned in this thread (the very first post, in fact!)

69f24b43.album-sftn.jpg


CD 1 is some seriously catchy death/doom (and I mean it - songs like 10 Silver Bullets, Rooms and Shadows or Lost & Catatonic tend to stay in my head for most of the day)

CD 2 is a collection of mostly acoustic melancholic Finnish ditties

CD 3 is awesomely atmospheric funeral doom. Beautifully oppresive, from a band that doesn't usually do the genre, it's definitely worth a try.
 
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