Following a six-year slumber, Illinois enigmatic sound conjurors, MINSK, are readying to unveil the otherworldly fruit of their long-anticipated new studio creation, The Crash & The Draw.
Scattered between the sleepy city of Peoria and metropolis of Chicago and drawing inspiration from a remote Belarusian city that has been burned to the ground only to be rebuilt like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, MINSK has been cultivating sonic exploration and alchemical outpourings since 2002. Rooted in the post-metal landscape that brought forth visionaries like Neurosis and Isis, with their latest offering, The Crash & The Draw, MINSK step out of the shadows of the giants of their genre to create a psychedelic blend of melodic, trance-inducing heaviness. Recorded almost exclusively in The Prairie State, The Crash & The Draw was captured by the band alongside Sanford Parker (Twilight, Voivod, Eyehategod, Yob etc.) at Earth Analog in Tolono, mixed by Parker and MINSK at Hypercube in Chicago and mastered by Collin Jordan (Eyehategod, Indian, Wovenhand, Voivod etc.) at The Boiler Room in Chicago with additional vocal tracking by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City (Old Man Gloom, Floor) at Antisleep Audio in Oakland, California and further tracking, editing, and mixing by Kevin Rendleman at Trash Rocket Audio and Aaron Austin at We Know Who You Are, both in Peoria. The record includes the striking cover creation of Orion Landau (Yob, Inter Arma, Red Fang etc.).
An instant contender for one of the most forward-thinking metal records of the year, The Crash & The Draw is a thematic continuation of the group’s long standing fascination with alchemical and esoteric ideologies, with marked nods toward the thought and writings of perennial inspiration, Kahlil Gibran, and the espoused words of Hermes Trismegistus, the fabled author of the Corpus Hermeticum and other sacred texts. The album boasts eleven arresting movements that transcend the confines of post-metal, sludge and psychedelia. A crucial sonic passage through dark and light that’s at once crushing, hallucinatory and at times, spiritually illuminating, tracks ebb and flow with a pastoral elegance and tangible urgency. A fitting audio soundscapade for those souls devoted to the manifestations of Neurosis, Rwake, Yob, Isis, and the like.
Reflects co-founding member Timothy Mead (vocals, keyboards) of the recording: “So much attention and care have gone into this process, this renewal. We knew in order to really move MINSK forward in a meaningful way we would need to raise the bar all over again. This realization lit a fire within us to transcend what was. Lots of changes, to be sure, and yet the results are unmistakably MINSK.”
Adds co-founder Christopher Bennett (guitars, vocals): “This new album will present inroads to some of the musical archetypes we initially discussed when starting this band, but ones we have not yet touched on in the macrocosmic sense. It embodies the furtherance and expansion of MINSK in ways desired in the past, but not realized until these songs began to show themselves to us. The aggregate elements combining into a solid form. We hope to reveal this process to any and all who have the ears to hear.”
The Crash & The Draw Track Listing:
1. To The Initiate
2. Within And Without
3. Onward Procession I. These Longest Of Days
4. Onward Procession II. The Soil Calls
5. Onward Procession III. The Blue Hour
6. Onward Procession IV. Return, The Heir
7. Conjunction
8. The Way Is Through
9. To You There Is No End
10. To The Garish Remembrance Of Failure
11. When The Walls Fell
The Crash & The Draw will be released via Relapse Records in North America TODAY, NOW in Germany, Benelux and Finland and YESTERDAY in the UK and rest of the world an come available on CD, double LP and digitally. Further info including track teasers and preorder links to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
MINSK:
Aaron Austin – guitar, vocals
Christopher Bennett – guitar, vocals
Zachary Livingston – bass, vocals
Timothy Mead – vocals, keyboards
Kevin Rendleman – drums
“If there’s ever a decent remake of Dune, I look forward to MINSK soundtracking a sandworm attack.” – Decibel
www.facebook.com/Minsk
www.thesoundofminsk.com
www.relapse.com
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