Official press release:
Diaspora is the impending new full-length from progressive black/death practitioners Cormorant. Slated to drop this August, the consuming, four-track follow-up to 2014’s critically-lauded Earth Diver sees Cormorant take their inimitable brand of progressive metal in expansive and exploratory new directions. Recorded and mixed by Greg Wilkinson (Vastum, Graves At Sea, Noothgrush, Brainoil) at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, California, the sixty-one-minute offering features the band’s longest, most detail-oriented compositions to date — the collective result of two years of collaborative writing.
Musically, Cormorant’s Diaspora features familiar elements of black, death, prog, and folk metal, but pronounced psychedelic and funeral doom influences can be heard throughout as well, particularly on the twenty-six-minute closing epic, “Migration”. Diaspora also features dynamic performances from renowned cellist Jackie Perez Gratz (Grayceon, Giant Squid, ex-Amber Asylum). Mastered by Brad Boatright (Sleep, YOB, Gatecreeper) at Audiosiege, the album is a crushing statement from one of the Bay Area’s most consistent extreme metal bands.
Additionally, Utah-based visionary artist Jeff Christensen created the album’s vivid and stunning four-panel artwork, revealed for the first time today. Issues Christensen:
“The idea was to create four panels of artwork based on a migration theme. I thought it would be interesting to have the panels run consecutively to form an expansive, evolving image where the eyes can just roam. We wanted each painting to be able to hold its own as a standalone image but also be a link to the wider image of the migratory theme. The original artwork was done with oil paints on four 16″ x 16″ panels. The entire process was a challenge, and the finished images are really different than anything I’ve done before. I was given a lot of reign to just do my thing and I’m very happy with the way it turned out.”
View the full, four-panel piece and an album trailer below.
Diaspora will be released independently on 2xLP, CD, and digital formats on August 11th with US and European distribution through War Crime Recordings. Pre-orders are currently available at THIS LOCATION.
