Altareth - Blood (Translucent Red Vinyl) - VINYL LP

On their debut full-length InchBloodInch, ALTARETH serve their sludgy guitars low and slow, with a slab of fuzz and a side of doom in massive portions. The Swedes from Gothenburg have built their musical foundation on a melding of heavy riffs and memorable melodies that is carried on four pillars of soaring vocals, fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, and fat, resonating bass. Thematically, InchBloodInch revolves around the dynamic relationship between the eternal and the imminent spheres of existence, communicated through elemental ideas like blood, sleep, and the moon, as well as delving into more immediate human struggles, and the notion of lives played out in an era of quantity over meaning. Since their formation in early 2013, ALTARETH have conjured a musical spirit filled with crunchy and harsh guitars that shows their passion for true metal, which is refined by the sludgy tempos of epic doom and layered with haunting vocal melodies that float across and above. ALTARETH take influences from a wide range of contemporary bands such as UNCLE ACID, SLEEP, WINDHAND, and PALLBEARER, but also from canonical outfits like ST. VITUS, BLACK SABBATH, and their compatriots CANDLEMASS. Swedish metal has clearly left a dark mark as ALTARETH also quote BATHORY and OPETH as sources of inspiration. Driven by such eclectic tastes, guitarist Niklas Sorum set out to encounter like minds with whom to create a filthy and massive yet melodic outfit that could energize the scene with much needed fuzzed-out quality down-tuned songs. When he finally found Mats, Sven, Paddy, and Vigfus, ALTARETH were born. Now the Swedes' debut album InchBlood' more than fulfills the massive promise ALTARETH have shown from the day of their inception and early demos.

This album presents a new arrangement of Franz Schubert's song cycle Die schone Mullerin, performed by baritone Roderick Williams with the Carducci Quartet. Originally composed in 1823 for voice and piano, the cycle sets poems by Wilhelm Muller that trace the emotional journey of a young miller through hope, love, jealousy and despair. In this recording, the piano part is reimagined for string quartet, drawing out the implied instrumental textures in Schubert's writing while preserving the narrative flow of the songs. The arrangement offers a fresh perspective on the work's structure and atmosphere, highlighting it's central Romantic themes of nature, longing and reflection.

Schumann soaked into my life not too fast. It might have been the over intertwining of inner voices... it might have been the broad spectrum of his emotions that needed time to mature and grow within myself... I did not fall in love with him at first sight as I did with Chopin. Processing his music at times felt heavy. It was like a map in which I had to discover the evolvement of my own searching. The inner struggles, the layers of his wandering spirit embedded in his music either subtle or obvious way (with his own marking) brought me deeper into the cave of my own inner world. To understand him and to ultimately empathize with him required integrity and effort. Nevertheless, contrary to this weight, the duality of Florestan and Eusebius and many between them lift off the certain seriousness in my approach to his music. His music evokes the lightness of the existence. Perhaps the distance which enabled him to observe the alter egos within himself is the humor to his music. I learned to love him in time more than any other composers, most firmly, closely and freely to my heart. (Klara Min)