The Well – Death and Consolation
Release Date 4/26/19
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Stream The Well – “Death and Consolation”
The Well
Death and Consolation
Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, Austin, TX trio The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that thereโs even more darkness and intensity to the bandโs third album than previous efforts, take heed. Itโs a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing.
โThis one is a little more personal,โ says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. โ2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life thatโs a constant.โ
While The Well continue to walk an intriguing line between authentic early 70s doom/heavy psych and frayed weirdness of dark folk โ especially with their haunting unison male/female vocals โ the new album also adds the stark vibe of post-punk acts like Joy Division and early The Cure. โI feel like this album is almost more gothic. Weโre big fans of post-punk,โ Graham says. Thereโs also much less jamming, the songs are tight and concise. And, did we mention, heavy? The band tuned down a full step to C-standard tuning for this album, which gives the proceedings its monstrous sound.
Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well โ Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan โ left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the bandโs debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the bandโs intense โ some even say โpossessedโ โ live performances have earned them featured slots at Austinโs Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more.
โThis album might be a little less produced, because I didnโt want to push technical stuff as much,โ Graham says. โIโm so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.โ
Death and Consolation will be available on LP, CD and download on April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records.