Virginia's long-running epic metallersWHILE HEAVEN WEPTwill commemorate their 25th year with the October 27 release of their sixth full-length album,"Suspended At Aphelion", viaNuclear Blast."Suspended At Aphelion"is undoubtedly the band's most ambitious, epic, and progressive album so far, featuring a single track divided into 11 parts, performed by the entire"Fear Of Infinity"lineup as well as several esteemed guests, includingFATES WARNINGalumni drummerMark Zonderand co-founding guitaristVictor Arduini- uniting two eras ofFATES WARNINGfor the first time ever.
WHILE HEAVEN WEPTmainmanTom Phillipsoffered more insight into the album: "While most of our albums have been thematic, this is the first time we've released something entirely of a conceptual nature in the grand tradition ofPINK FLOYD,GENESIS,RUSH,MARILLION,IRON MAIDEN,KING DIAMOND,QUEENSRŸCHE, and, of course,FATES WARNING...and musically, this album falls somewhere in the middle of all of that with a touch of Viking-eraBATHORYas well."
The signature sound ofWHILE HEAVEN WEPTremains fully intact, yet has evolved;Phillipsexplains: "We've always been characterized by emotional sincerity, bombast, sweeping melodies, and dense orchestration, and'Suspended At Aphelion'is no exception - however, this really is another level for us in that it's the first album featuring all-new material composed in this decade (as opposed to previous releases which often culled from years of archival material), it's full of twists, turns, modulations, time changes, harmonic content rarely heard in metal, and tons of counterpoint. This is all augmented by actual cellos, violins, classical guitars, an array of percussion, and genuine analog synths."
He continues: "Over the last few years, we've had some audiophiles reaching out to us regarding the 'loudness wars,' so we were very much committed to delivering an album with a wide dynamic range, with very little peak reduction or compression...insuring it was as dynamic and organic as possible versus beingPro Tooled to death or overtly compressed/limited for loudness... not unlike our labelmatesSATYRICON, who definitely impacted our approach to'Suspended At Aphelion'...so you may have to turn it up compared to 'X album' from 2014, but we feel like this epic journey is even more gratifying because of this."
"Suspended At Aphelion"track listing:
I:Introspectus
II:Icarus And I
III:Ardor
IV:Heartburst
V:Indifference Turned Paralysis
VI:The Memory Of Bleeding
VII:Souls In Permafrost
VIII:Searching The Stars
IX:Reminiscence Of Strangers
X:Lifelines Lost
XI:Retrospectus
The cover art for"Suspended At Aphelion"was once again created byGustavo Sazes(MORBID ANGEL,ARCH ENEMY), and three separate audio masters were optimized for LP, CD, and digital download formats.
WHILE HEAVEN WEPTalso reunited with producer/engineerKevin "131" Gutierrez(RAVEN,DECEASED,DYSRHYTHMIA) atAssembly Line Studiosfor the recording of"Suspended At Aphelion"12 years after creating their classic"Of Empires Forlorn"album together, solidifying an already strong team for their most epic of epics!
