“Reverie of the Revolving Diamond”, the newest full length offering from experimental chaotic hardcore act SEIZURES is an intricate release of seemingly endless layers. Impressed and captivated by its new, out-of-the-box range of ideas, we have teamed up with drummer Cory Blaine, to give you five albums that helped influence him on his path to co-creating the band’s sounds and the masterpiece below.
From the beach town of Dana Point, California, Seizures embodies the sounds behind the Orange County curtain with their own brand of surf, psychedelic, and shoegaze influenced Mathcore. Made up of members Albert Navarro and Nathan Najera (Guitar), Buddy Porter (bass), Cameron Miller (vocals), and Cory Blaine (drums), the band blends their adventurous and complex style to tell stories of old and new personal experiences and realizations with sci-fi fantasy undertones. Friends and listeners have coined their new sound as “Surf Core” or “Beach Math”, they call it Seizures.
Reverie of the Revolving Diamond was recorded and mixed by Erol “Rollie” Ulug (Teeth, Graf Orlock) at Bright Lights Studios in Santa Ana, CA. Mastered by Brad Boatright (From Ashes Rise) at Audiosiege Mastering Studio in Portland, OR. Reverie features guest appearances from Keith Barney (Eighteen Visions, Throwdown) and Vernon Porter (Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald).
The album will be released October 4th digitally, on limited vinyl (100 transparent indigo/opaque aqua blue variant, 200 neon orange variant) on the band’s own Sun Terrace Records, as well as a limited edition of 100 tapes via Portrayal of Guilt. Order tapes, here. | Order vinyl, here.
In essence, this record is a musical narrative of a fictitious place created by band member Albert. In the spirit of something like synesthesia, each track has a different mood, color scheme and location in said place transitioning into the next. Reverie of the Revolving Diamond is riddled with tales of chaos, beauty, addiction, debauchery, and death surrounding their hometown and travels. The band says that they ultimately wanted to make something they’d never heard before. While progressing from previous efforts, Seizures sought to throw all of their favorite sounds and influences into writing without holding back. The band strived to make a record that sounded “like us and where we live.”
Upcoming shows:
Dec 27th @ The Regent w/ Horse The BandJan. 4th @ Programme w/ Stickfigurecarousel
5 Albums that Influenced the Writing of the New Seizures Album – Drummer Cory Blaine
Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3
This record has banger, after banger, after banger and it all starts with the song “Down”. The shuffle groove in “Down” is something I warm up to nearly every time I sit down behind a kit. There’s just something about playing along to that track that doesn’t get old. After “Down” that record takes you from incredibly energetic and sing-a-long highs to lyrical, musical, and emotional heavy lows. The entire album will take you along for the ride whether you want to or not.
Run The Jewels – Down (ft. Joi)
Between the Buried and Me – Coma Epileptic
Where do I begin with this one? Maybe it’s the making of video that’s nearly an hour long for this record? Maybe it’s Blake Richardson tracking everything with only a click and no scratch tracks? Or maybe it’s the fact they give you what sounds like a damn dinosaur at one point? Pick one of those and run with it. This record is a damn circus ride from front to back.
Between the Buried and Me – Dim Ignition
Periphery – Periphery III: Select Difficulty
The first time I listened to “Select Difficulty” I was hooked from the jump. I’m a big fan of Matt Halpern but that’s not the reason I love this record. Mark Holcomb’s solo on the opening track “The Price is Wrong” is hands down one of my favorites in recent years and probably of of all time. Again, the making of video for this record is phenomenal as well, and there’s even a point in it where you can both see and hear Mark noodling with ideas for that solo. This record strikes me as a super angry record almost all the way across the board and it definitely gave me some ideas on how to make some of our stuff for Reverie come across similarly.
Periphery – The Price is Wrong
The Fearless Flyers – S/T
Cory Wong, Joe Dart, Mark Littieri, and Nate Smith. Get your dancing shoes ready because these boys have come to party. No frills, no bullshit, and likely done in one or two takes. Nate Smith was the reason I jumped on this record when it came out because, come on, it’s fucking Nate Smith! Everyone playing on this record is exceedingly talented at their instruments. The bass lines are incredible throughout and the guest spots they feature are perfect. There are a couple of points on Reverie where I wanted to try to emulate Nate Smith’s playing and getting to do that our track “Atollian” with Vernon Porter is just icing on the cake.
The Fearless Flyers – Ace of Aces
Steely Dan – Aja
I had a different record picked out for the last spot but this record is just, well… it’s perfect. It’s the perfect record in the van. It’s the perfect record when you can’t decide what to put on. It’s the record you didn’t know you wanted to listen to and I honestly didn’t think anyone else in Seizures was into it. I’ll never forget Buddy asking to put on “Deacon Blues” in the van and being puzzled. I didn’t take Buddy to be a fan of the Dan but I was pleasantly surprised. Thinking about it after the fact, it makes sense seeing as he is Vernon Porter’s (Kenny Loggins, Bette Midler) son. Aja is always on heavy rotation for me and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Steely Dan – Deacon Blues
“In sharp contrast, the members of Seizures—vocalist Cameron Miller, guitarists Albert Navarro and Nathan Najera, bassist Buddy Porter and drummer Cory Blaine—approach their work more like movie directors. The musical atmospheres conjured are polarizing and jarring—sometimes in one song—but the emotional arc parallels the sonic extremity. The aural jump cuts heighten everything like a film plot, with sections given time to breathe easily and pummel mightily.” – Alternative Press
“Taking an experimental approach to hardcore has led to some of the genre’s best acts over the years, and California crew Seizures are no exception. Much like the legendary and influential Dillinger Escape Plan, the band introduce a dizzying sense of genre-jumping, often landing themselves in psychedelic and surf territory without losing any heaviness.” – Exclaim!
“What makes Seizures great is that they’re of the few bands besides Dillinger Escape Plan that can cram a ton of riffs into a song and not make it sound like a manged mess. The vicious ocean that Seizures spread out for us is actually more calculated than it initially seems.” – Metal Injection
“…Seizures feel like they have an honest, tender and tortured soul buried beneath the layers of bewildering noise.” – Cvlt Nation
“Seizures slide from haggard to smooth in one smooth stroke, like a brand new razor…” – Heavy Blog Is Heavy
“Seizures deliver some really innovative and emotive mathcore/metal with their own original twist…” -We Sing Like We Want
