New York post-metal visionaries SO HIDEOUS announce new album ft. Downfall Of Gaia & The Number Twelve Looks Like You members!
Surreal video for first single “The Emerald Pearl” now streaming!
Silent Pendulum Records has announced the December 3rd release of None But a Pure Heart Can Sing, the new album by So Hideous. It’s the New York City band’s first new album since 2015’s acclaimed Laurestine, released on Prosthetic Records.
In the six years since the critically acclaimed Laurestine, So Hideous founder Brandon Cruz and his longtime collaborators Christopher Cruz and Etienne Vazquez went their separate ways and devoted themselves to families and careers. So Hideous receded into the mist but Brandon Cruz never stopped writing. In 2020, with a new album’s worth of music taking shape, the Cruz brothers and Vazquez brought bassist DJ Scully and drummer Michael Kadnar ( also in Downfall Of Gaia ) – the explosive rhythm section of The Number Twelve Looks Like You – into the ranks.
None But a Pure Heart Can Sing is a new and astonishing piece of work from this adventurous band. Still raging as hard as ever, still expressing the extremes of torment and beauty, the album sees So Hideous incorporate new sounds and rhythms into its approach.
But give ear, as the band just shared a video for the killer track “The Emerald Pearl”, which injects the band’s usual orchestral post-black metal sound with some clear jazz and Afrobeat influence. Watch SO HIDEOUS‘s brand new video right here:
Brandon Cruz describes in detail the new direction the band has taken: “I think we still have the foundation of what we laid before, being influenced largely by Japanese post-metal bands Mono and Envy, and composers such as Arvo Part and Max Richter. We wanted more rhythm this time and we expanded outward to include influences from Fela Kuti and Tony Allen‘s Afrobeat percussion, James Brown‘s horn section, and the balladry of Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. It was also nice to finally experiment a bit with more Penderecki-style tone clusters and glissando on the more dissonant sections.”
Absolutely thrilling on a musical level, absolutely cathartic on an emotional level, None But a Pure Heart Can Sing is an example of the triumph of art created with open minds and open hearts.
Discussing the concepts behind None But a Pure Heart Can Sing, Brandon Cruz states: “The record is about rediscovering the freedom to share your passion, whether it be your art or your own voice, without any angst, anger or second thoughts. We talked a lot about the times we used to get into a room to play when we were 16 or whatever and the only barometer was if it ‘felt right and sounded good.’ When you see little kids they just extemporaneously break out into song and dance. They don’t care who’s watching. I had this idea of someone in some form of captivity, yearning to be free and sing her song.”
None But a Pure Heart Can Sing was engineered, mixed and mastered by The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Kevin Antreassian at Backroom Studios. The vocals were recorded at Atomic Garden West by Jesse Nichols. The album will be released on December 3, 2021 via New York’s label Silent Pendulum Records, to pre-order your copy in Europe visit the Evil Greed shop at this location!
Tracklist:
1) Souvenir (Echo)
2) The Emerald Pearl
3) Intermezzo
4) Motorik Visage
5) From Now (Til the Time We’re Still)
Lineup:
Brandon Cruz – guitar, keys, string arrangements, lyrics
Christopher Cruz – vocals
Etienne Vazquez – guitar
DJ Scully – bass
Michael Kadnar – drums
Strings:
SEVEN)SUNS
Earl Maneein, Adda Kridler, Blanca Cecelia Gonzalez – violins
Fung Chern Hwei – viola
Jennifer DeVore – cello
Horns:
Lynn Ligammari – saxophone
Nadav Nirenberg – trombone
Jackie Coleman – trumpet
For More Info Visit:
https://www.facebook.com/sohideous
www.instagram.com/sohideous
www.facebook.com/SilentPendulumRecords
