Canadian doom-death band Norilsk is set to release their latest slab of music on November 24, on Hypnotic Dirge Records. Incorporating a greater amount of cold melodies and delving further into forward-thinking structures, this new album has equal amount of unorthodox conventions, dark mysteries, and deadly hooks. As lyricist Nic Miquelon mentions, “Anyone who has followed us so far and enjoyed our musical landscape might be carried away into the distance with Le passage des glaciers. There is something of a personal journey in there, something that had to be experienced and mourned, and something that swallowed us whole when creating this.” While Le passage des glaciers is not a concept album, this new musical chapter has been written around the theme of mourning and departure.
The artwork is signed by Sam Ford, who designed the artwork for the previous album The Idea of North. Sam worked closely with the band to develop an artistic continuity, yet a distinct visual atmosphere to the album, and integrating symbolism and referencing Canadian art.
The album includes eight tracks, mostly in French, for a total duration of 44 minutes.
Tracklist:
1. Midnight Sun
2. Le puits de l'oubli
3. Namolennye
4. La voie des morts
5. Ghosts of Loss (Passage part I)
6. Noirceur intérieure
7. L'érosion (Passage part II)
8. Ellesmere
The track "Namolennye" is now streaming on
Bandcamp.
Regarding the track, bassist / vocalst Nicolas Miquelon says:
“There is a slightly more intricate approach to this album, from a song structure to a stylistic point of view, as exemplified in 'Namolennye.' This song was composed on an 8-strings bass guitar, which brings a non-conventional colour, and allows different kind of arrangements than on the previous album. As for the song title, this unique Russian word ('намоленная'), roughly meaning 'imbued with prayers' and most often applied in the context of religious icons, happened to be surprisingly convenient to illustrate the notion of estrangement and an alternate state of reality. The song ends with a quote from Pushkin, translated in French, about dying where you feel you belong.”
Bandcamp Player:
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