So, the Theosophical Society has some new albums out!

(OOC: The links lead either to the albums in question so you can check them out or to songs that provide some idea as to how these things sound, at least in my head.)

Enoch - The Vaults IV: Trespass

This is the last of our current set of Vault compilations, clearing out the closet for our next studio release. This one features three unreleased songs, named "Trespass", "Deranger", and "Flame of the Tongue", being 6-and-a-half, 5-and-a-half, and 3-and-a-half minutes respectively. They're rather in an ELO-meets-Radiohead-meets-Marillion vibe, kind of a cross between progressive, pop, and the more experimental fringes of alternative rock. All of them are rather normal in terms of their structure, having choruses and verses and whatnot. The progressive elements are more in the time signatures and fills that are sprinkled through each song.

The other tracks on the album are the two single-edits of "Tiny Footsteps" and "Pushing the Stone" from Century, which were themselves parts of larger suites. There are also two demo versions of tracks from that album present, and the three pieces of studio chatter we released as a free download-only single where we discussed the writing, recording, and production of Century, which was still in the works. Basically studio diaries. The first single is the title track, "Trespass", which is more like two rather short songs. Rather complex pop, like early Queen mixed with modern Radiohead, and a very Genesis-y acoustic folk bridge connecting the two songlettes (hence the Genesis reference name). There are two more singles slated to come from this album, then will be the new album!

The new album is about halfway finished right now. Most of the riffs and bits are written. It's just a matter of constructing the songs. We're currently on the road with Herr Fische, getting Chris' input every day on our riffs and advice on how to put them together. This is the first time we've worked together since The Strange Village and Pleasures of the Vast, both lauded as near perfect prog rock records, so there is cause for excitement.

We are also looking for some collaborators on this next album. We are interested in hearing how some outside players might interact with our sound. This could mean remixing our track, playing with us on it, a bit of both, whatever! Tell us if you are interested.

Sudan - Engines of Decay

Sudan's new album is out. They cracked it out in about three weeks of recording after spending their time on tour with the Black Gates writing and making demos. As is known, the demos for "Reason's Usurper" and "The Deceiver's Bathysphere" were released as B-sides on the last single so, in respect to that, the final versions of the two songs have appeared as a double-A-side single. Both are somewhat shorter, as promised, and feature new solos and better production. Sonic landmarks kept in mind while making this album include Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Fates Warning, Coroner, and Watchtower and more.

The final tracklisting is:

1. Lords of Wealth (8:50)
2. Below the Sepulchre (5:18)
3. Death Rattle (9:16)
4. Airborn Horror Machine (6:25)
5. Liar Crown (5:28)
6. Jormungandr's Eye (6:41)
7. Fed to the Thresher (5:09)
8. The Sinister Thrum (10:35)
9. The Deceiver's Bathysphere (8:14)
10. Reason's Usurper (7:01)

The lyrical content on this album is much more political than their last record, which was more existentialist in bent. For example, "Jormungandr's Eye" is about government surveillance, while "Lords of Wealth" is about greed, and specifically about the banking crisis.

The Theosophical Society - Transmetropolitan

The Theosophical Society has released the last of the three main Grand Society Mk. II albums, entitled Transmetropolitan. It is, like the previous two albums, based on a long-running comic book, but does not connect with the previous two albums. It was the final of the three albums tackled and easily the most cohesively built of the three. It still spans three discs, each about 45 minutes long, but the Grand Society has always been about the most grandiose progressive rock.

This album, like the previous two of this iteration of the Grand Society, have been lengthy excursions in epic progressive rock. Each movement comes close to or tops the 15 minute mark and segues into each following track as one giant, roughly 2-and-a-half hour song. Don't worry, however, as each movement is broken up into several tracks on the CD version to allow you to skip around, should you like. Sonically, it is like a crossroads of Voivod, King Crimson, and Rush. Of course, there are smatterings of other influences and bits that crop up, but those three are the biggest sonic components of this album.

The two previous albums of the Grand Society Mk. II were The Sandman and Lucifer and will be followed by a fourth double-disc compilation of singles-only material from the three main albums.

Pharaohs

Pharaohs has released the final single from their progressive jazz rock opus West, which features on its B-side a sneak peak at the next album, which has already been recorded. Inspired by the presence of 10 films on this year's Oscar list for Best Picture, the boys of Pharaohs have written a program music piece based on each of the ten films. Honestly, having heard it, it's some of their very best material, and it's much more concise than their usual stuff; their next album will fit on one disc, for once! The sneak peak is of the track based on Inglourious Basterds, which fit well as a B-side on a song from an album themed around the old American West.

And that's that!

- Langdon

Edited by user 28 February 2010 17:28:48(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

OOC: The Theosophical Society is a collective comprised of two bands, Enoch and Sudan. Enoch is progressive rock and tends to play a variety of takes on it, from lush instrumental pieces to more edgy, modern progressive fair inspired by Radiohead and Porcupine Tree and Frost*, to more classic styles like Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, and stuff in between and unlike all of those. Sudan is a progressive metal band that, at times, plays heavily technical metal. At other times, they play an incredibly heavy, but rhythmically-oriented type of metal called post-metal. Other times, they play progressive death metal, and yet other times progressive metal inspired by bands like Dream Theater or Shadow Gallery. Depends on the mood. This last album by them was inspired by early progressive metal like Fates Warning and Watchtower, as well as thrash metal, NWOBHM, and early speed metal. Together, the two bands play as a single whole called the Theosophical Society and make basically albums of whatever genre they find interests them at the time collectively but might not fit in any of the other two bands. Not every song by the Theosophical Society features every single member, so they have a lot of flexibility in terms of what kinds of sounds they can make. In a very, very general sense, Enoch makes modern-styled progressive rock, Sudan makes heavy and technically complex progressive metal, and the Theosophical Society makes dense, epic progressive rock. But, as said before, each band also does some different things. And Pharaohs is just the name of a side-project three members of Enoch have where they play as a guitar/piano/drums jazz trio influenced by progressive rock.