Last year, I stumbled upon an album on Bandcamp that blew me away. That album was Relic by Louisiana-based Forming the Void. Thick riffs, super melodic vocal hooks, and a sick Led Zeppelin cover had me listening to Relic non-stop and truth be told, I still listen to it pretty regularly. Since then, I had picked up both their 2015 release, Skyward and their split with Pyreship released earlier this year. All of this music did a good job of holding me over while I anxiously anticipated the release of a new full length. Well, that new full length is upon us and it does not disappoint!
Rift picks up where Relic left off and builds upon it in beautifully crunchy psychedelic waves. The main difference between last year's Relic and the upcoming Rift comes in the form of shorter, more easily digestible songs. This does not necessarily mean the songs are more straight forward. They still have all the heavy, prog-driven arrangements that past releases have given us, just in more bite-sized chunks. That is, of course, with the exception on 10-minute closer, Shrine. The middle-eastern guitar influence is even more evident on this album than ever before. In my opinion, this is a good thing and definitely sets FTV apart from most other modern stoner rock bands.
Leading up to the release of this album, The Lafayette-based quartet put out a hilarious music video for lead single On We Sail, which showcased not only the musical talent within the members of the band, but also the fact they these dudes definitely know how to have a good time. Since then, Forming the Void have release the second single, Transient as well as a lyric video for Ark Debris. All three of these songs do a great job of showing off what we have to look forward to with Rift, while at the same time leaving a bit to the imagination.
Although nearly half of the album has already been released in one form or another, I found that listening to Rift from cover to cover breathed new life into the songs that I had already heard, giving me a new appreciation of how the songs all work together as a cohesive masterpiece. Rift will be released on August 17th on vinyl, CD and digital download and undoubtedly will be a heavy contender for AOTY. James and the boys have really outdone themselves on Rift, which is only made more impressive by the fact that this album is being released just a little over a year after Relic!
I want to give a shout out to Richard over at Sheltered Life PR for the promo copy of the record and am anxiously awaiting the physical copy that I pre-order to come in the mail when the album drops. Check out the Bandcamp link below to check out On We Sail and Transient, and while you're there, pre-order the album. Trust me you won't be disappointed.
-Rybo
Although nearly half of the album has already been released in one form or another, I found that listening to Rift from cover to cover breathed new life into the songs that I had already heard, giving me a new appreciation of how the songs all work together as a cohesive masterpiece. Rift will be released on August 17th on vinyl, CD and digital download and undoubtedly will be a heavy contender for AOTY. James and the boys have really outdone themselves on Rift, which is only made more impressive by the fact that this album is being released just a little over a year after Relic!
I want to give a shout out to Richard over at Sheltered Life PR for the promo copy of the record and am anxiously awaiting the physical copy that I pre-order to come in the mail when the album drops. Check out the Bandcamp link below to check out On We Sail and Transient, and while you're there, pre-order the album. Trust me you won't be disappointed.
-Rybo
