New York City sludge/doom/drone trio UNEARTHLY TRANCE today shares an exclusive stream of Stalking The Ghost via Noisey magazine (stream it below). The premiere comes in advance of the record’s official release, this Friday via Relapse Records.
Of the long-anticipated offering Noisey champions, “a particularly dark and bludgeoning set of tunes packaged in a distinctly Sabbath-esque sleeve. But the doom landscape that UNEARTHLY TRANCE is returning to,” furthers the esteemed blog, “is vastly different than the one they entered in 2000 – and even the one they left in 2012. ‘When we first started out, nobody liked us,’ [guitarist/vocalist Ryan] Lipynsky says from his new pad across the bridge in New Jersey. ‘They thought we were just horrible. But now this is an accepted form of music that gets press, there’s tons of bands, and it’s a really thriving scene. It’s changed a lot since we split up, too. There’s a real overabundance of mediocre bands, in my opinion, and that’s one of the downsides. We’d rather be our own entity than part of a scene or a genre….'”
Hear Stalking The Ghost alongside an interview with Lipynsky who elaborates on, “smoking too much weed, the importance of dreaming, and why UNEARTHLY TRANCE have been born again,” at THIS LOCATION.
February 24th will see the worldwide release of Stalking The Ghost via Relapse Records on CD, LP, and digital formats. Physical preorders and bundles are available via Relapse.com HERE and digital downloads can be preordered via Bandcamp (see the player below).
UNEARTHLY TRANCE will embark on a short European tour surrounding their appearance at this year’s prestigious Roadburn Festival with additional dates to be announced in the coming weeks.
4/17/2017 KB18 – Copenhagen, DK
4/18/2017 Hafenklang – Hamburg, DE
4/19/2017 Magasin4 – Brussels, BE
4/20/2017 Roadburn – Tilburg, NL
4/21/2017 Doom Over Leipzig – Leipzig, DE
4/23/2017 JAZ – Rostock, DE
An esoteric ritual of seismic doom, Stalking The Ghost taps into the darkest realms of the occult over the course of seven tracks that reek of utter despair. Forming a balance between slow-churning maelstrom and spine-chilling harmony, wrapped beneath a blackened cloud of rumbling feedback, UNEARTHLY TRANCE sounds more powerful and exploratory than ever before. Recorded at Menegroth/The Thousand Caves Studios by Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Panopticon) and featuring cover art by Orion Landau (Yob, Red Fang, Graves At Sea), Stalking The Ghost restores misery to a gentrifying city.
Decibel Magazine calls the record, “relevant, powerful, and most welcome,” while Stereogum champions, “an excellent return to their fighting form.” In a near-perfect 9.5/10 review, Metal Assault observes, “UNEARTHLY TRANCE presents a dark journey through occultism, matching the concept of the album to the musical atmosphere to an almost perfect ratio.” Last Rites notes, “There may be no one out there making a better version of this particular sort of racket. Find the riffs you thought were only a distant memory, and let them succor you.” Adds Hellbound in an 8/10 verdict, “This might be their most diverse, dynamic recording to date, but as tunes like ‘Invisible Butchery’ show, they’re still no strangers to slow ‘n’ heavy death/doom.”
Hailing from Long Island/Brooklyn, New York, UNEARTHLY TRANCE was forged in 2000 by Ryan Lipynsky (guitar, vocals) and Jay Newman (bass), with Darren Verni (drums) joining the following year. Over the past fifteen-plus years, the trio has been creating the loudest, most harrowing blackened doom/sludge in the region. UNEARTHLY TRANCE established their early defining sound with the release of their first two full-lengths (2003’s Season Of Séance, Science Of Silence and 2004’s In The Red) released on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above Records.
In 2006, UNEARTHLY TRANCE signed with Relapse Records and released three more critically acclaimed full-lengths (2006’s The Trident, 2008’s Electrocution, and 2010’s V) exposing the world to a palpable growth in their doom/sludge foundation and well-crafted songwriting. Over the years, the band has brought their crushing live show across North America, the UK, and Europe with legendary and acclaimed acts such as Electric Wizard, The Melvins, High On Fire, Grief, Sunn O))), Pelican, Sleep, Morbid Angel, Floor, Autopsy, Crowbar, and more.
