Old Temple 2019

Whalesong

The album "Radiance Of A Thousand Suns", released at the end of 2019, introduced some surprising changes to Whalesong's music. First, the band replaced the drum machine with live drums. The album was graced by outstanding personalities of the musical world, namely Thor Harris (Swans) and Grekh (Decapitaded).

The album consists of two CDs and together it contains nearly one hundred minutes of heavy music.

The first one is the core of the album, while the second one features a 40-minute long composition "Radiance Of A Thousand Sun". Despite the procedure of stretching the album into two CDs, Whalesong maintained the consistency of the material. 

The album begins ruthlessly. The throwing of low-tuned guitars, the psychedelic instrumental parts of Thor Harris (Swans) on the oriental instrument Dulcimer, abstract broken rhythms of the drummer Grekh (Decapitated) announce heavy, ambitious, dark and difficult to perceive music.

The album undoubtedly has its own atmosphere. Radiance of a Thousand Suns refers to the explosion of atomic bombs and the statements of one of their creators, J. Robert Openheimer. Certainly, the echoes of inspiration with the issues of nuclear war, huge explosions, and the apocalypse left their mark in the works of Whalesong.

The strong musical participation of one of Swans' musicians - Thor Harris directs the band's music in this style. There are a lot of Thor's musical parts on this album. If someone loves Swans they will surely be satisfied. The Dulcimer instrument played by Thor Harris is a kind of stringed cymbal that is played by plucking the strings with your fingers or hitting with special hammers. At least I think so. However, references to the American group are only a starting point, as the Whalesong band has developed its own style over the years.

Michał Kiełbasa (Niethan) plays an eight-string guitar.The guitar parts are minimalist, heavy, repetitive trance riffs; they resemble a roller that crushes everything in its path. Musicians also use metal elements such as circular saws, using them as additional sources of percussion sounds, gongs, theremin, cello, sitar, accordion, saxophone, vibraphone, etc. Some of the traditional instruments mentioned above are treated experimentally. Here and there various preparations and elements of guitar noise appear, sometimes interspersed with an abstract solo on the saxophone.

The participation of drummer Grekh from Decapitated in a few songs is invaluable! His playing pushes the band's music a few shelves higher. A kind of mixture of metal, jazz, noise and hardcore is created. What a wonderful job. These are undoubtedly awesome atmosphere, very close to my sense of musical aesthetics. If Whalesong ever managed to build an album out of eight strong, timely songs such as "Rebirth" or "Opening The Mouth To Hell", I think it would be a phenomenal album. On the other hand, calmer, experimental compositions or long transcendental improvisations also have their charm. And without a doubt, without this element, Whalesong's music would lose its original character, which shows its qualities during live performances. Experimenting and searching for new musical territories is one of the many keys of this album.

The album was recorded in Michał's studio: "Antisound Studio" in Tarnowskie Góry. Michał from Whalesong took up the production, mixing and mastering entirely. The album sounds great.

This is one of the most interesting albums that I have recently heard and I must honestly admit that I missed such a strong guitar hit on the Polish industrial scene. Respect and we ask for more.

whalesong.bandcamp.com

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