Obsequiae

Obsequiae

The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings

20 Buck Spin

***NO ON LIMITED BABY BLUE / OLIVE GREEN MERGE VINYL!!! For the third time in a decade, a new dawn rises over the castle ruins. Obsequiae once more lower the gates and emerge from the keep, to regale the townsfolk with tales of another age via heroic hymns of majesty and high adventure on The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings. The most immersive and hyper-focused album from Obsequiae to date, this album features a heightened sense of rhythmic definition, greater care in the depth of layers and a shimmering clarity that elevates the uniquely realized character of a band unlike any other. Sweeping and vast, the otherworldly scope of the guitars, the anachronistic harp interludes, the percussive precision and the range of ancient melodic beauty open portals to the immemorial. An album singularly concerned with creating a captivating world to become willfully lost in, The Palms Of Sorrowed Kings sets itself on a path that few now trod but a realm that Obsequiae tower over like the noblest kings.

Obsequiae

Aria Of Vernal Tombs

20 Buck Spin

***NOW ON GOLD / BONE MERGE VINYL!!! Received an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork!!! Note price change. Last year, 20 Buck Spin released the first vinyl edition of Obsequiae’s masterfully unique 2011 debut album Suspended in the Brume of Eos. Perhaps the only band that might fit as well on a label like Harmonia Mundi as on 20 Buck Spin, Obsequiae reemerges with Aria of Vernal Tombs, having painstakingly shaped their second opus over four years in the way an expert woodworker plies her trade to craft singular works of exquisite beauty. As before, traditional Medieval source material, this time interpreted via Vicente La Camero Marino’s sparse, sorrowful harp pieces, appears throughout Aria, providing a foundation upon which to build the longer, metal-based sagas forming the album’s core. Black metal, death metal, traditional heavy metal and Medieval music are all weaved seamlessly together in baroque yet abrasive reverence on Aria, resulting in a remarkably original long-player. With a wet clarity to the incandescent production that cites underrated obscurities like Sacramentum’s Far Away from the Sun and Eucharist’s A Velvet Creation along with the early works of Varathron, Samael and Rotting Christ, the atmosphere on Aria of Vernal Tombs brings to 2015 what such bands strangely but sincerely captured years ago. Every sound and shimmering tone is intentional and essential to this rite of Spring. 20 Buck Spin is honored to issue Obsequiae’s second album on gorgeously foil-stamped CD and LP editions.

Obsequiae

Suspended In The Brume Of Eos

20 Buck Spin

***NOW ON LIMITED SILVER / KELLY GREEN MERGE VINYL!!! Note price change.**Note: This is the first CD release of Suspended in the Brume of Eos in more than 10 years and the first time it has ever been released on 20 Buck Spin on CD format (original label Bindrune Recordings)** Storming out of the frozen North, Minnesota’s Obsequiae released their debut album Suspended in the Brume of Eos on CD in 2011 via Bindrune Recordings. Obsequiae crafts meticulous, beautifully harmonic odes to times now passed into legend, conjuring images of a medieval Europe upon which modern life has yet to infringe. The album harkens back to the pre-wimp-out melodic Scandinavian death metal of the mid 1990s; dark, aggressive, conscious of songcraft foremost and unintimidated by complexity. The band’s deep knowledge of European traditional music and instrumentation is evident throughout, particularly in the ornate, colorful interludes that tie the album together like tapestries in a ruined castle. Had John Renbourn started a project with Quorthon, something like Obsequiae might be the result.  As the album remains a favorite at 20 Buck Spin HQ and had yet to surface on vinyl, the label offered to release this one-of-a-kind work on the greatest audio format for the first time. Repackaged with new artwork, the LP reintroduces Obsequiae in advance of the band’s much-anticipated second album, which will surface on 20 Buck Spin later in 2014. Live performances are planned for later in the year.  “The handiwork of the native Minnesotans ... returns wonder to...