Premiere: Black Lung ‘Dark Waves’ – New Album Releases Tomorrow
The once bassless Black Lung are now a quartet after bringing four string thumper Mac Hewitt into their fold, and with their revamped line-up, along with an expansion on their psych and blues infused doom rock, the band will be releasing their latest album, Dark Waves, tomorrow, 27th May, through their new home Heavy Psych Sounds.
As Josh said in his recent review, ‘The harmonic play between Cavalier and Fullerton on guitar creates a unique tone that sounds incredible’ and concludes that ‘Dark Waves has solidified my love for the band’. Now today, 24 hours prior to its official release, The Shaman is ecstatic to be able to bring you their new eight-track album in its entirety below…
More On Black Lung & ‘Dark Waves’
In the winter of 2014, the trio of Adam Bufano, Elias Schutzman (both founding members of The Flying Eyes) and multi-instrumentalist Dave Cavalier emerged from Baltimore as Black Lung. The band quickly set themselves apart in the crowded field of psych-doom and heavy-blues bands by eschewing a bass guitarist, instead of finding the backbone of their sound in the interchange of fuzzed-drenched guitars, deep driving drum beats, and Cavalier’s raw, blues-tinged vocals. Following the release of their Self-Titled debut in 2014, Black Lung was named ‘Best New Band’ by the Baltimore City Paper and embarked on their first European tour. The tour was capped with a performance at the Rockpalast Crossroads Festival, broadcast on German national television.
In 2016, Black Lung released their sophomore album See The Enemy on Noisolution Records. Produced by J. Robbins, guitarist and frontman for post-punk icon Jawbox (and producer for The Sword and Clutch), See The Enemy saw the band building on the strengths of their debut while at times pushing into garage-psych territory in the vein of The Black Keys and Jack White. They followed the release with a headlining European tour, notably appearing at Freak Valley Festival and Desertfest Belgium alongside bands like Graveyard, Dead Meadow and All Them Witches.
After several more years of touring and songwriting, Black Lung returned with Ancients in 2019. Produced by Frank Marchand (producer for The Obsessed), it found the band taking even more adventurous departures from doom and psych-rock tropes. The album was followed by another successful release tour in the EU and in late 2019, guitarist Adam Bufano amicably departed the band. Shortly thereafter, guitarist Dave Fullerton (member of the post-rock trio Deaf Scene) joined the fold only to find the world turned upside down by Covid-19. Despite the setbacks and ripples of doubt across the whole of the music industry in 2020 and 2021, Black Lung pushed forward with their new lineup and quietly stayed hard at work on their fourth album.
While in some ways Dark Waves offers a departure from prior Black Lung records, the band stays true to their roots in doom and psychedelic music, delivering eight songs packed with the frenzied, fuzzed-out guitar breakdowns, booming drums, and soulful vocals that long time fans will appreciate. The decision to bring bass guitar prominently into the mix on Dark Waves adds new levels of depth and heaviness to their songs, which may be the album’s most notable and exciting development. For them, making it through these dark times meant reflecting on the past while pushing forward without knowing what the future may hold. The result is a record that sees Black Lung rising to new sonic heights. Dark Waves is set for global release through Heavy Psych Sounds on May 27th, 2022.
Dark Waves Tracklisting:
01. Demons
02. Dark Waves
03. The Cog
04. Awaken
05. Hollow Dreams
06. Death Grip
07. The Path
08. Mud King
Black Lung is:
Dave Cavalier – Guitar & Vocals
Elias Schutzman – Drums
Dave Fullerton – Guitar
Mac Hewitt – Bass
Dark Waves, the latest eight-track album from Black Lung is released tomorrow, 27th May, by Heavy Psych Sounds and can be purchased on various vinyl pressings along with digipak CD at the labels webstore.
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
