Today, CAUSTIC CASANOVA premiere ‘Wicked World’ as the first track from the forthcoming MER Redux series installment “Best of Black Sabbath”. More information about the record can be found below.
| CAUSTIC CASANOVA guitarist Andrew Yonki talks about his special relationship with Black Sabbath: “One night in the fall of 2008, I found myself awake, drunk and alone with a nylon string acoustic guitar at a hostel in León, Nicaragua”, writes the American. “This cheap classical guitar from the historic market in Otavalo, Ecuador had been my constant companion on my solo trek through Latin America, and I played it a lot. People noticed it and it helped me make friends, which is what happened as I strummed by myself in that hostel courtyard. An older Brazilian guy had a guitar, and he asked if he could join me, so we started playing together. He began to play this arpeggiated chord progression that was instantly familiar if immediately unnamable. I copied his chords and nailed down the rhythm, and he began to play the single note leads. Each individual note became a puzzle piece that brought into focus that we were jamming on a Black Sabbath song. My rum-addled brain couldn’t remember the title at the time, so my impromptu guitar teacher told me that we had been jamming on ‘Laguna Sunrise’ from ‘Vol. 4’. The album that codified Heavy Metal; a musical language that is spoken the world over. That night, the music of Black Sabbath provided a lifeline to what was truly important to me. That night, the music of Black Sabbath made clear to me the truth that I wanted nothing more in my life than to play music with other people. My realization that we had been jamming Black Sabbath was the happiest I’d been on that trip, possibly the entire time I was abroad. Just a few months later, I’d reference ‘Vol. 4’ to the members of the band that I’ve jammed, practiced, performed, toured and recorded with since 2013, the first night I saw them play. The music of Black Sabbath provided much needed comfort to me that night in León; it is only fitting that a shared love of that music brought me to my band mates in Caustic Casanova.” His band mate, Jake Kimberly explains why CAUSTIC CASANOVA‘s choice fell on “Wicked World”: “Covering a song is always an interesting experience”, muses the guitarist. “You want to do it justice, but also make it your own. Is there anything worse than a stale rendition that merely recreates the original note for note? We spent weeks working on “Wicked World.” We tuned it down, and broke it down part by part, investigating where we should be true to the first Black Sabbath album and where we should venture into other sonic territories. Sometimes you just have to play together and feel your way through a piece of music. That’s how we created the more ambient section, which took the place of Iommi’s solo. We wanted to keep the heavy energy going and growing through the middle, so we further embellished and even wrote new parts (for a Sabbath song, it seems sacrilege, but we did it anyway), adding twin guitar leads and riffs that fit the upbeat pulse we were after. We toured this cover across North America, and, as expected, it was a crowd pleaser. It perks the ears of people in the back of the bar who are on the fence about watching the band or going out for a smoke. Nothing gets people on your side quite like Black Sabbath.” CAUSTIC CASANOVA are a riff-rock outfit whose frenetic, heavy-on-experimentation aesthetic makes bands like THE MELVINS and SONIC YOUTH the most logical comparisons. Their 2019 MER album “God How I Envy the Deaf” won two “Wammies”, the Washington D.C. area equivalent to the Grammys (but with better taste) for “Best Hard Rock Album” and “Best Hard Rock” Song. Under normal circumstances, these road dogs would be touring their butts off in support of that album and their appearance on “Best of Black Sabbath [Redux]”. They very much hope to get back in front of audiences again in 2021 to support their next record. |
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| Tracklist 1. EARTHLESS – Never Say Die 2. CAUSTIC CASANOVA – Wicked World 3. SUMMONER – A National Acrobat 4. BLACK ELECTRIC – Sweet Leaf 5. RWAKE – The Rwrit 6. GINSBURG/MARGERA/REEDER/ROTA – NIB 7. YEAR OF THE COBRA – Planet Caravan 8. HIPPIE DEATH CULT – Fairies Wear Boots 9. LEATHER LUNG – Hole In The Sky 10. MOONER – The Wizard 11. SOLACE – Electric Funeral 12. HOWLING GIANT – Lord of this World 13. ELEPHANT TREE – Paranoid 14. BRUME – Solitude 15. SAINT KARLOFF – Sleeping Village |
| In a tumultuous celebration of BLACK SABBATH’s 50th anniversary, Magnetic Eye presents “Best of Black Sabbath”, a double-album featuring 15 heart-stopping renditions of classic tunes from across the discography of the godfathers of metal by some of the riff-heaviest bands in today’s stoner doom scene. A companion to Vol. 4 [Redux], “Best of Black Sabbath” features both faithful takes and almost unrecognizable re-creations, all in devotion and tribute to the beloved metal pioneers from Birmingham. “Best of Black Sabbath” includes ripping tracks from EARTHLESS, RWAKE, CAUSTIC CASANOVA, HOWLING GIANT, ELEPHANT TREE among many more. |
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