Today, blackened doomsmiths, CULTED, drop new track Illuminati upon the holiday-addled masses. A menacingly haunting composition, the tune comes by way of the band's Oblique To All Paths long player, slated for release via Relapse Records early next year. Their second full-length album and first release in more than four years, Oblique To All Paths is a evocatively grim piece of sprawling doom metal and the perfect soundtrack to a cold, isolated winter.
Elaborates Michael Klassen (guitar/bass/percussion/noise) of the record: "Oblique to All Pathsis the culmination of CULTED's collective experience over the past five years. As artists and musicians, we're acting as interpreters of our environment, if you will. We've all been subjected to mythmakers and storytellers, shamans and charlatans in life. Illuminati strives to skeptically dissect these deceptive belief systems and explore them using sound."
Illuminati is currently available for all your streaming needs at the official Relapse Soundcloud page here or YouTube here.
Spawned in 2007, CULTED's background is a unique one: Four band members spread out over Sweden and Canada, having never performed music in the same room as an entire band, instead joining forces through the marvels of modern technology to compose wholly compelling, finely executed doom. Although the CULTED cooperative — Michael Klassen (guitar/bass/percussion/noise), Matthew Friesen (guitar/bass/percussion/noise), Kevin Stevenson (drums) and Daniel Jansson (vocals/ambience) – have yet to speak to each other in real time, they unite in mind and spirit through their musical manifestations. A truly collaborative effort across international lines, CULTED's bleak and epic masterworks of dystopian doom serve as a true testament to their long-distance accomplishments.
Oblique To All Paths will see official unveiling on CD, 2xLP and digital formats via Relapse Records on January 21st in North America, January 20th in the UK/World, and January 17th in Germany/Benelux/Finland. For physical preorders, point your browser here and for digital pre-orders head to iTunes here.
