Toronto-based experimental doom trio VÖLUR will release its sophomore album, Ancestors, on June 2 via Prophecy Productions. Produced by the band and mixed by Charles Spearin (Broken Social Scene), Ancestors is the follow-up to VÖLUR's celebrated debut, Disir, which was hailed as "a winsome blend of pastoral folk, gentle prog, atmospheric doom, and old world magic" by Noisey. In advance of the record's release, MetalSucks debuts the new song "Breaker of Skulls", saying, "Völur's music is eclectic and multidimensional and forward-thinking and everything you want the music of a great modern doom band to be." Hear VÖLUR's "Breaker of Skulls" now at THIS location.
"'Breaker of Skulls' is a dark, sludgy slab of doom inspired by the ancient Icelandic warrior poet Egil SkallagrÃmsson, a man who fought terrible battles across the North Sea," comments the band. "He was at once barbarous and poetic. A man who would commit a brutal act of violence and then recite a beautiful poem immediately after. The song was inspired by his epic poem, 'The Loss of My Sons'. It moves from a combative, gnarly sludge riff to a bittersweet and almost beautiful conclusion, all the while filled with yearning chromatic movement. The piece finds the band at its most aggressive, and almost its most experiment with disjointed improvised passages paired against bleak heavy doom."
Just as the band's debut, Disir, dealt with themes surrounding female figures from mythology, Ancestors focuses on the heroine's male counterparts and is the second part of a planned four album series spotlighting various elements of the old Germanic spiritual world. VÖLUR's songs are long, quasi-narrative pieces that feature Laura C. Bates' violin assuming the role traditionally executed by a guitar, allowing the bass playing of Lucas Gadke (also of Blood Ceremony) to take on unique responsibilities in both lead and melodic roles while drummer Jimmy Payment (Do Make Say Think) feeds the band's bombastic, crushing oomph. Doom music (not necessarily metal) is about slow contemplation and the transfixing power of heaviness and VÖLUR's weighty riffs, layers of feedback, dynamic, angular melodies and moments of beauty give heed to the band's promise to always seek newer modes of musical expression and discovery.
Moving between high-tension heaviness and beautiful pastoral moods, VÖLUR aims to reflect the world of primordial nature inspired by ancient myths and chilling poems of death and heroism. Ancestors shares the stories and sagas of great men from the past that have been shrouded by the obscurity of time while simultaneously spotlighting one of North America's most ambitious and striving young acts.
Track listing:
1.) Breaker of Silence
2.) Breaker of Skulls
3.) Breaker of Oaths
4.) Breaker of Famine
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