ALL ELSE FAILS Presents Music Video For Their Cover Of Death’s “Crystal Mountain”
New EP “The Incident at Black Lake” Out Now!
Photo Credit – Barrett Klesko – FadeBack Studios United
Canada’s All Else Fails have been working on their latest EP “The Incident at Black Lake” for the last two years and released it this past September. Intended to be listened to as a whole, it is a personal foray into the darkness of depression and the torment of addiction. To round the EP out, the final track is a cover of “Crystal Mountain” originally performed by Death.
According to Chuck Schuldiner, the song deals with the troubles they had with their former neighbours in Florida. Religious bigots, they lived in their ‘crystal mountain’ and stood against everyone else. While attending church regularly they disapproved and criticized all those around them. Schuldiner quips:
“Religion certainly isn’t a bad thing, but if it serves to make somebody feel better while hurting others and then go to church to beseech God for forgiveness on Sunday morning…I guess it doesn’t work very well (laugh).”
All Else Fails shares their thoughts on the track:
“This is a song we love and felt that we could cover faithfully at its core, while adding our own twists to its soundscape, to justify its existence. Lyrically it speaks to religious oppression on a personal and community level.”
Guitarist/vocalist Barrett Klesko wrote his parts while being submerged in the darkest, most distressed headspace he has ever been in resulting in the intensely dark “The Incident at Black Lake”. He cites that through the fog and sensation of reality warping around him, he somehow found clarity in his writing. He thinks this EP is beautiful, there is elegance in darkness; it’s sad because he knows the turmoil and pain it took to write it, and that it’s powerful because it’s the first time he has truly been honest in his music.
Technical, melodic, and haunting, the EP is recommended for fans of Revocation, Soilwork, and Fleshgod Apocalypse.
The video for “Crystal Mountain” can be seen and heard via its premiere on TheCirclePit – https://youtu.be/Fx5mMMgOZy0
The EP “The Incident at Black Lake” was released on September 30, 2022.
“The Incident at Black Lake” is available at Allelsefails.bandcamp.com, Spotify, Apple Music.
Music Video – I, Defiler – https://youtu.be/RwNjIFc6aPY
Music Video – Devour the Sun ft. Seedy Mitchell – https://youtu.be/2npL3dWJifo
Track Listing:
1. I, Defiler (5:48)
2. Devour the Sun (8:24) ft. Seedy Mitchell
3. Flesh /Excess /Wealth (5:36)
4. Crystal Mountain (5:19)
EP Length: 25:09
All Else Fails is:
Barrett Klesko – Vocals, Guitar
John Saturley – Guitar
Coco Lee – Bass, Vocals
Nelson Collins-Lee – Drums
About:
Over the last 15 years, Edmonton, Alberta based award-winning metal band All Else Fails has become a cornerstone of the melodic heavy metal community in Canada. Combining intense riffs, intricate rhythm sections, brutal guttural screams, and melodic yet unusual vocal lines paired with relevant and relatable lyrics, All Else Fails’ message resonates with us all.
Formed in 2006 with the release of their self-titled EP, All Else Fails has gone on to release 9 studio albums, many of which have garnered awards and nominations from across the Canadian music industry and have propelled the band into live performances all over the world, including their massively successful tour of India in 2017.
For the past two years, the band has been hard at work writing their new EP “The Incident at Black Lake.” A deeply personal, brutally honest, and staggeringly complex take on the reality-bending mental struggles of vocalist and founder, Barrett Klesko (The Misfires, The Order of Chaos). The band is filled out by guitarist John Saturley (The Order of Chaos, Skepsis), bassist and vocalist Coco Lee (Eternal Prophecy), and drummer Nelson Collins-Lee (The 21st Agenda, Skepsis). The EP is produced by Bevin Booth of In the Booth Recordings and engineered at The Electric Treehouse in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2022, the band is returning to their DIY roots by mindfully abandoning their social media and redirecting their energy to contributing to their local metal scene by building a direct personal connection to their fans and followers, living in line with a humanist philosophy and encouraging a culture of support between artists. All Else Fails’ new single “Flesh /Excess /Wealth” drops in early September with the full EP “The Incident at Black Lake” releasing September 30th. Fans can experience their explosive new live show this fall in Western Canada
