Pharaoh Overlord, currently the duo of Tomi Leppänen and Jussi Lehtisalo, continue to evolve with each new record, and are set to continue doing so on their sixth album, austerely titled 6 (just like their others), which is coming out on November 13. They’re continuing down the rabbit hole of combining their rock origins with brighter melodies, and this time they’ve got SUMAC’s Aaron Turner adding corrosive vocals. Turner says:
“I was also thinking of Drawing Down The Moon era Beherit where the music had gone almost entirely electronic and the only vestige of the metal aesthetic that remained was the vocal style. That rub of “artificial” music and organic/humanistic/off kilter vocals was intriguing for me.”
The combination of Turner’s well-worn growl with the relatively pristine kraut guitars and Italo electronics seems almost comical at first, but as “Without Song All Will Perish” marches resolutely through its eight minutes, the effect is undeniable. Turner’s vocals find a home amidst the luminescent tones, hitting the groove with perfection and combining for a monolithic whole. It doesn’t take long into “Without Song All Will Perish” before you find yourself equally grooving and rocking in your chair, as you wonder at how the growls get embedded into the vibrant soundscape so naturally. Who knew that there could be fertile ground between these two styles? Evidently, Pharaoh Overlord did – and we can’t wait to hear what else they’ve come up with.
“Without Song All Will Perish” also comes with an excellently hypnotic video of skulls in space…
Pharaoh Overlord’s new album 6 is coming out through Rocket Recordings on November 13. You can find the band on Bandcamp and Facebook.
