New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Howling Sycamore is a project started in 2017 by guitar player
Davide Tiso (Ephel Duath, Gospel Of The Witches) joined by ex-WatchTower and Dangerous Toys singer, Jason McMaster and drumming sensation, Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, ex-Necrophagist, ex-Obscura). The idea behind the band is to melt together extreme metal drumming, layered down-tuned guitars and old school prog metal singing.
On June 21st the band will release
Seven Pathways to Annihilation their second album for Prosthetic Records. The album was mixed and mastered by Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist) and features the recurring contributions of
Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Gorguts) on lead guitars, Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Brain Tentacles) on baritone saxophone and Fabian Vestod (Skinlab, Gospel Of The Witches, Red Serpi) on additional drums plus the very special guest appearances of Marty Friedman and Matt Baldwinson (Tangaroa,
Dream Tröll, II II II) on lead guitars.
Howling Sycamore's self-titled debut came out in January 2018 and was very positively received by press and public: it was praised for the bold artistic direction and ingenuity. "I consider our debut album a solid introduction to the band's sound: in only 38 minutes we were able to display Howling Sycamore's vast range of influences and our strong will to not fit in," remarks Tiso. "With our second album I wanted things to be slightly more challenging for the listener and we ended up with a much denser collection of songs."
"While the songs from the first album developed around preexisting drums parts, the second one was born from guitar structures", continues Tiso. "I believe these songs have a slightly more approachable flow also because of that. Once the guitars were ready, we worked on drums and eventually on bass and vocals. Composing the guitars, I noticed early on that the songs were getting longer and longer but I didn't want to steer the material toward a more concise direction and I let the music unfold naturally. "
Seven Pathways to Annihilation clocks in at over 50 minutes of music and features 7 tracks and will be available on gatefold 2LP, compact disc and all digital outlets.
"I aimed for a bigger, richer production but still very natural sounding," remarks Tiso. "Jamie King did a meticulous job mixing and mastering the album. It took us months finding the right balance between the instruments."
Lyrically
Seven Pathways to Annihilation is linked to shamanic and metaphysical principles displayed with crude and sometime brutal imagery. The title in in particular is tied to the idea of self-destroying one's ego in order to live a more enlightened existence. The seven songs in the album aim to the same annihilating purpose.
The album art was masterfully executed by French visionary artist Dehn Sora (Amenra, Blut Aus Nord, Treha Sektori) and displays again the Howling Sycamore tree, this time upside down and in the form of a lightning. The lighting aims towards a hooded figure that symbolizes who looks inward to get the answers.
HOWLING SYCAMORE IS:
Davide Tiso - Guitars and Bass
Jason McMaster - Vocals
Hannes Grossmann -
Drums and percussion
