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Since their inception, REZN have mined the stark monochromatic depths of underground metal and fused them with the kaleidoscopic delights of psychedelia, prog rock, and shoegaze. With their latest album Burden, they plumb the deepest, bleakest trenches of their sound while retaining a lifeline into the cosmos. Staking a claim at the crossroads of the hazy dimensions of modern psych acts like Black Angels, the cavernous gloom and reverb-drenched guitar of bands like Spectral Voice, and the lurching low-end meditations of artists like OM, REZN have created Burden—an album of immense amp-worshipping weight and intoxicating instrumentation. Burden was recorded simultaneously with their previous album Solace back in July 2021 at Earth Analog Studios in Tolono, IL by Matt Russell. Rather than release a double album, REZN divided the material into two separate records, each with its own distinct emotional timbre. Whereas Solace was meant to uplift and create a sense of narcotic dreaminess, Burden skews towards the themes of delirium, claustrophobia, and misery. Musically, Burden favors riffs over atmosphere, percussion over ether, dissonance over beauty, but there is still an undeniable cohesion between it and its predecessor. The marriage of brute force and sublime textures has always been a key tactic in REZN’s approach—a duality that may explain their touring history with fellow synesthesia-inducing metallurgists Elder and Russian Circles—but the spectrum of the band’s mercurial temperaments has never felt as clearly defined and fully explored as it does on Burden. Burden’s artwork is a literal continuation of Solace’s landscape painting, showing the fiery depths at the foot of the mountain range. Even Burden’s most reserved moments feel like the calm before the storm, a gathering of momentum before the punishing closer and lead single “Chasm,” a megalithic weedian crusher further bolstered by a scorching guitar solo courtesy of Russian Circle’s Mike Sullivan. “We wrote ‘Chasm’ to depict the final phase of an existential descent, when you’re on the last few steps of the spiral staircase and realize there’s no going back,” says Rob McWilliams. “We wanted it to sound like walls closing in on all sides and you’re looking at the exit getting further and further away. Mike’s melodic finger-tapping style blurs the section into a kind of dizzying, infernal panic attack. In the final moment of the song you’re faced with the repetitive churning of a molten, fuzzed-out wall of sound that builds until the audio itself starts to singe and catch fire, then abruptly self destructs.” As knowledgeable gear heads, experienced sound engineers, and seasoned DIY veterans, REZN were able to create an early body of work devoid of any sonic compromises in their speaker-rattling dirges and heady lysergic forays. Their four self-released albums—Let It Burn (2017), Calm Black Water (2018), Chaotic Divine (2020), and Solace (2023)—have all gone through multiple vinyl pressings, and the international underground heavy psych world has routinely selected the band for distinguished festival slots across North America and Europe. From their inception, REZN have been a fiercely independent band with a fully realized aesthetic and a fervent cult following. Now ready to take things even further, REZN have teamed up with Sargent House to release Burden unto the world.
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Mute Duo
Chicago’s Mute Duo is Skyler Rowe (drums/percussion) and Sam Wagster (pedal steel). Building on simple, composed melodies, Mute Duo explores an atmosphere ranging from sparse chimes to pummeling drone with a free, rhythmic fluidity and minimal electronic textures. In 2018, they opened for Ryley Walker on a three week tour that took them to Canada, down the east coast and through the southeast. Their second LP, ‘Lapse in Passage,’ was released by American Dreams Records in 2020, followed by ‘Migrant Flocks’ which came out in the spring of 2023. The duo frequently plays with special guests and recently released the cassette,’5amSky,’ featuring a live collaboration (with Mathew Lux, Andrew Scott Young, and Chelsea Bridge) on Astral Editions.
![CRUSH THE MONSTER](https://theduckclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CRUSH-THE-MONSTER-698x1024.jpeg)
Crush The Monster
𝕮𝖗𝖚𝖘𝖍 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 is a band from Boise, Idaho. We are a close group of friends that likes to explore new depths of our musicianship and what it means to be a human. Currently we are working on recording our second album, which has been a really fun and rewarding process for all of us so far. That being said, we hope you have a great time listening to our music and that all is well in your mind, body, and soul. Much love – CTM