(written by Islander)
The Northern California metal band Amarok have demonstrated towering, far-seeing ambitions since their inception more than 15 years ago. With their self-titled debut EP in 2010 they began identifying their songs with Roman numerals. That EP was also more than 45 minutes long, spread across three songs. After a trio of splits, their 2018 debut album Devoured continued with the Roman numeral designations (which had continued on the splits), counting forward from VI through IX in a double LP that nearly reached ten minutes above an hour. And then in 2024 they released their second album Resilience, another double LP (X through XIII) that again exceeded an hour of music.
Over the course of those extensive releases Amarok has moved from funeral doom into a hybrid of doom and black metal, while also continuing to narrate evolving reflections on the natural world, the dangers created by human folly and oppression, the suffering caused by great loss, and a search for transcendence and hope through determined perseverance.
Over the course of those monumental releases Amarok have also made a lot of talented friends and admirers (in addition to amassing a devoted following of fans), the evidence of which will be revealed in a follow-up to Resilience named Overcome.
Overcome is yet another double-album, and is perhaps best considered as a companion to Resilience. Set for release on September 25 by Toronto’s Hypaethral Records, it includes ten remixed and reimagined interpretations of the five songs on Resilience by notable artists from across the experimental and extreme metal spectrum — two different versions of each of those five songs (which is how you get from five to ten tracks). Those ten artists include Ethan Lee McCarthy (Primitive Man), Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum), and Andrew Black (Mizmor/Hell live), as well as Sinuous Void, Only Now, Collapse, Gridfailure, DJ Eons One, Mirroriddian, and Auto Seer.
One song from Overcome has already been revealed, and today we premiere a second one — a reimagining of Amarok’s “Legacy” by the afore-mentioned Andrew Black.
Amarok – photo by Michelle Camy
We have received this comment from Andrew Black:
“I am so grateful to have had the privilege of working on this release. ‘Legacy’ perfectly encapsulates the funeral greatness that is and has always been Amarok. Soul crushing, heartbreaking, sensitive but brutal. It just hurts so good. All I wanted to do with my contribution was showcase how touching the main chord progression is while not fucking it up.”
Amarok’s original 12-minute version of “Legacy” was both immense and fragile, daunting in its weight and scale but also wounded and haunting. Gently strummed acoustic chords memorably channeled wistfulness and lonely grief; more searing chords and scarring screams, accompanied by wailing guitar harmonies, morphed the music into a wrenching carrier of pain and despair, yet the music also seems to express intense yearning as well as the soul-shearing remembrance of grievous loss.
To this day it’s easy to fall into “Legacy“, to become subsumed by it, to lose track of time and to become spellbound despite the depth of the sorrow that lives within it. What has Andrew Black done with it?
His reworking takes the original’s core melody and makes it more evanescent, more apparitional, more mystical. The layering of sounds, which gradually builds in intensity, becomes a kind of convocation of spirits. The music elegantly but eerily quavers and shimmers, swirls and warbles. It’s solemn but swells, with reverent organ tones and the sheen of strings elevating the experience toward celestial heights (though perhaps those scarring screams are in the mix too?).
Black’s version strips away the original’s enormous bass undulations and slow, bone-vibrating drums, which is one reason why it sounds so much more mystical and reverent. He also brings in ringing piano keys with a less-than-perfect tone to carry the core melody to a conclusion. That inspired choice really creates a stunning finale that will stay with you.
It’s a brilliant re-conception of the original song. Even at roughly half the length of the original, if you’re not feeling at least a bit choked-up by the end of this we’ll be surprised.
AMAROK is:
Brandon Squyres (Bass / Vocals)
Kenny Ruggles-Alaniz (Guitar / Vocals)
Nathan Collings (Guitar)
Colby Byrn (Drums)
Overcome features artwork by Brian Nicolas-Espinoza (@macuahuitlpress). It will be released by Hypaethral Records on limited edition double-CD and digital formats on September 25th. Find pre-orders via the links below. It’s recommended for fans of similar companion albums by Neurosis/Tribes of Neurot, Wolves in the Throne Room (Celestial Lineage/Celestite).
Also below you’ll find a stream of the first song released from Overcome, a reimagining of “Penance” created by Leila Abdul-Rauf — who said this about what she approached her re-working of the song:
“When AMAROK first contacted me to remix the mammoth ‘Penance,’ I asked them if they would be fine with me re-envisioning the song as a whole to which they replied, ‘do anything you want with it!’ What first drew me in were the lyrics, expressing the pain of having grown up with organized religion forced upon you which I immediately connected with personally. The gorgeously harmonic guitar melodies I knew I had to do justice to in some way. I thought I could best do that with turning them into vocal melodies, which lent themselves well to the Eastern European folk edge I brought to them, overlaid with minimal synth drones so that the impactful lyrics were front and center – I love how it all turned out and I’m grateful to AMAROK for trusting me in this process!”
PRE-ORDER:
Physical: https://hypaethralrecords.com/collections/amarok
Digital: https://hypaethralrecords.bandcamp.com/album/overcome
FOLLOW AMAROK:
https://linktr.ee/amarokdoom
https://www.instagram.com/amarokdoom
https://www.facebook.com/amarokdoom