Chicago, Illinois based Atmospheric Psych-Doom Rockers REZN published the official video for the track “Collapse” taken from their forthoming album, “Burden,” due out on June 14th, 2024 via Sargent House. Watch the video through the YouTube player below:
REZN – the Chicago-based band of Rob McWilliams (vocals, guitar), Phil Cangelosi (bass), Patrick Dunn (drums) and Spencer Ouellette (synth/saxophone) – announce their new album, “Burden,” out June 14th via their new label Sargent House.
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” artwork is a literal continuation of “Solace” landscape painting, showing the fiery depths at the foot of the mountain range. Even “Burden” 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.
Pre-Order/Pre-Save “Burden” here: https://found.ee/rezn-burden
Stream “Collapse” now: https://found.ee/rezn-collapse
Tracklist:
01. Indigo
02. Instinct
03. Descent Of Sinuous Corridors
04. Bleak Patterns
05. Collapse
06. Soft Prey
07. Chasm
Lineup:
Rob McWilliams / Guitar and Vocals
Phil Cangelosi / Bass and Rainstick
Patrick Dunn / Drums and Percussion
Spencer Ouellette / Synths, Sax, Lapsteel, Flute and Piano
Mike Sullivan / Guitar solo on “Chasm“
Fresh headlining US tour dates added with support from the mesmerizing Mute Duo. Full dates below:
Supporting Pallbearer
June 11: Durham, NC – The Fruit
June 12: Asheville, NC – Eulogy
June 13: Virginia Beach, VA – The Bunker
June 14: Baltimore, MD – Metro
June 15: Lancaster, PA – Tellus 360
June 16: Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
June 18: Hamden, CT – Space Ballroom
June 20: Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
June 21: Boston, MA – The Sinclair
June 22: Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmount
June 23: Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground
June 25: Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
June 26: Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
June 27: St Paul, MN – Turf Club
June 28: Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
June 29: Little Rock, AR – The Hall
July 26: Indianapolis, IN – Post. Festival (only REZN)
w/ Mute Duo
Aug 9: Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s
Aug 10: Kansas City, MO – MiniBar
Aug 13: Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
Aug 14: Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon
Aug 16: Portland, OR – Dante’s
Aug 17: Vancouver, BC – Green Auto
Aug 18: Seattle, WA – Substation
Aug 20: Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial
Aug 21: Oakland, CA – Stork Club
Aug 22: Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Aug 23: Palmdale, CA – Transplants Brewing
Aug 24: Mesa, AZ – The Nile Underground
Aug 25: Albuquerque, NM – Sister Bar
Aug 27: Fort Worth, TX – Tulips
Aug 28: Austin, TX – The Lost Well
Purchase tickets: https://www.rezn.band/shows
