A funny thing happened when Fallujah released their latest album: suddenly, lots more people knew who Kyle Schaefer, AKA Archaeologist, was. Some of them, at least readers of Heavy Blog, already knew the project, since we had covered it way before Schaefer became Fallujah's vocalist. And that's why it's my sincere and deep pleasure to premiere "Badlands", a new single from Elements, Archaeologist's upcoming release! It's yet another excellent piece of progressive metal, intricate but not overly pretentious, striking a great balance between dreamy atmosphere and forceful presence. Head on down below to check it out!
I want to start by shouting out George Lallian (Cyborg Octopus) who plays the tasty bass line on this track. His tone and approach here are so good, taking the flighty guitar lines and adding a lot of breadth and weight to them. It's a real joy to listen to Schaefer's bright tone on here balanced by Lallian's deeper rumbles. The track also makes great use of that brighter tone, channeling an uplifting and pleasing vibe to the track which works especially well with the evocative cover art. Just like the balance between guitars and bass, there's also a tinge of contemplative darkness to the track near its end which makes sure it's not "just" a tasty morsel but offers something to chew on.
Elements, which is slated for release on June 30th, is shaping up to be a really interesting album. Schaefer himself has described it as "an exercise in unrestrained spontaneity" and mentions that its twenty tracks were each mostly created and recorded in their own single day, exploring new elements for the project. You can definitely hear it on "Badlands", as his tone here is more expressive, "open", and atmospheric than much of his previous (and excellent) work. Make sure you head on over to the project's Bandcamp to pre-order Elements and, if you're still sleeping on Archaeologist, make sure to check out the backlog as well (my favorite is Winter's Wake!)