Berne, Switzerland, February 10, 2017: Elusive Sound is very proud to announce the release of Au Revoir’s “Veles” on vinyl in Europe.
Pre-orders start Friday, February 17 at 20:00 Zurich time. Official release date March 3, 2017.
Au Revoir are a heavy expansive instrumental rock five-piece from New Jersey. The band now consisting of Eric Annicchiarico, Tyler Mandich and Gregg Peterson on guitar, Carl Kranz on bass and Tyler Gilbert on drums have an exceptional ability to create sublime, expansive soundscapes and hypnotic crushing doom.
After two solid releases in “In the Key Of Night” (2012) and “Black Hills” (2013) Au Revoir went into Backroom Studios with the intent of their next album sounding as huge as they do live. They have at long last not only accomplished that with Scot Moriarty but also produced an absolute stunner of an ever-evolving concept album that we immediately embraced and were determined to release in Europe.
Au Revoir have reformed themselves as a huge serpent, coiling tightly around the roots that lead us into the wet underworld of Veles. It is not only a world of wet grassy plains and eternal spring but one where we find ourselves in the deepest of caverns, watched over by the ghosts of the dead, awaiting impending doom. Veles is richly bleak with decadence but the listener never succumbs or falls prey. He watches the ground ripple like water and feels an irresistable urge to be lost in Veles’ violent sway.
Au Revoir have shed their old skin and are now full-bodied and in constant transformation, reborn as a lethally charged bringer of chaos. Veles unveils the descent of man into utter misery. When one stands and contemplates his fate, the troubles that have fallen, looks back at the path they have taken to reach their end, surrendering to their undoing by taking one last breath and bracing themselves for the full force of impact, as the water comes rushing over.
The LP features stunning full artwork by Dylan Partridge and will be released on two high quality Gatefold coloured variants, Transmigration limited to 150 copies and Rebirth limited to 100 copies, featuring an additional numbered art-print by Dylan Partridge. Both variants will be sold via our official label website shop at http://elusive-sound.com/catalog/
REBIRTH (Deluxe)
Veles did not fear retaliation even though he knew that taking what he yearned to possess would end in his own ritual death. His battered body would inevitably succumb, releasing everything he took in the form of rain falling from the skies. The death of Veles was impermanent. He would reform himself as a serpent, shed his old skin, be reborn in a new body and challenge Perun again and again. Let us not keep dwelling in our caves but wander out into the wild like wolves. We too must challenge. Desire is the fire of life. Let them see how we burn.
The current gained force,
The stretch distance
And the water came down,
The water came rushing over.
We stood our ground,
we stood still, neck-deep in water
We were not alone
For he lieth in wait hidden in Navia’s mist,
Seeping through the trees.
We could hear his beating heart,
We could see the fire in his eyes.
One by one we would be wolves.
TRANSMIGRATION
“When in sight of a fellow-man on the point of sinking for the last time, do not venture to snatch him from the waters and deny him his fate for his soul already belongs to Veles”.
We pass from a place or state of existence to another. Life is transient and impermanent yet death is not a void but it too, a transition. It is the beginning of a new journey, a new existence in Navia. Some believe it lies under water, others, under a shrub of elder. In the water, below the tree stub and the log, no matter where it lies, it is an unearthly place of pulsating, invisible life, where time is absent and those who pass find eternal dreaming. Navia, guarded by winged vipers often including Veles himself, god of the watery Underworld, god of magic and musicians, lord of the waters, lord of the forests and the wolves, such loyal guardians, who trust only their instincts. We too must trust our instincts, our hearts, our minds, seize control of our lives, fear nothing and challenge those who believe they have the right to shape our world. Let us be wolves.
