Rise To The Sky - Two Years Of Grief
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RISE TO THE SKY – TWO YEARS OF GRIEF LABEL: MEUSE MUSIC RECORDS/TRAGEDY PRODUCTIONS RELEASE DATE: JUNE 16th 2023
Another day has passed, another day that I have spent frozen in my grief. From sunrise to sunset and on through the sleepless hours of the night, day after day I have been submerged, drowning in the dark waters of melancholy and despair, my way back to the light forgotten. Yet, as I watch the last sanguine rays of light bleed into the distant horizon, on this day so like all the others and yet so different, I catch a glimpse of a new path, one that slowly turns away from the shadows. I have heard a small and tremulous cry that has slipped between my tears and it seems that maybe, maybe one day my heart might beat again…
In contrast to the measured, melancholic majesty of his music, Sergio González Catalán’s creative spirit is constantly aflame. It has been just a handful of months since the Chilean multi-instrumentalist and composer gave us the last monumental album from Rise To The Sky – Stay With Me When You’re Gone – and little more than a year since its predecessor, the towering monolith of sorrow that was Every Day, A Funeral. Yet he has returned once more with another staggering, deeply affecting outpouring of intense emotion. Two Years Of Grief is the seventh full length album to emerge under the tattered and faded banner of Rise To The Sky and it is set to assume a very special place in the pantheon of this project’s releases. Not only does it feature some of the most accomplished, moving and powerful pieces that Sergio has ever written and recorded, it also offers the first suggestion that he may be able to lift the shroud of loss that has enveloped him since the death of his father. Sergio explains the significance of Two Years Of Grief…
“This album will always be very dear to me. It marks the end of a series of albums about grief, which started with Per Aspera Ad Astra, which was the initial shock of my father´s passing and continued with Every Day, A Funeral and Stay With Me When You’re Gone. They were years of disbelief, confusion and doubt. But one day I knew that he was coming back home. Two years after my father passed away, I was able to welcome my son to this world. Now I know that, through my blood, I have brought him home. And this album tells that story.”
This sliver of sunlight that has pierced the darkness surrounding Sergio has done nothing to diminish the emotional power of his new music. Tracks like ‘Can’t Hide From Pain’ show him operating at the peak of his powers, his understanding of the agony that can haunt the human heart as complete and evocative as ever. And the album’s climactic track, ‘From My Blood I Bring You Home’ is quite simply one of the most accomplished and overwhelming pieces in the entire Rise To The Sky catalogue. No fan of Sergio’s work, be it with Rise To The Sky or the coldly dramatic Winds Of Tragedy, can afford to miss this simply magnificent album.
As always, producer Filippos Kolipanos (Ocean of Grief, On Thorns I Lay) and drummer Emidio Alexandre Ramos (Adamantine, Colosso and Dark Oath) have walked beside Sergio on his journey and together they have taken Rise To The Sky to new heights. With beautiful cover artwork created by Natalia Drepina (Draconian, Morokh etc) – who also contributed lyrics and vocals to the song ‘Two Years Of Grief’ - and featuring the magical bonus track ‘My Light Dies’, Two Years Of Grief is the finest release yet to bear the hallowed name of Rise To The Sky.
Genre: Atmospheric Doom/Death Metal
For fans of: Officium Triste | Shape Of Despair | Saturnus | Novembers Doom Line-up:
Sergio González Catalán – Vocals/Guitars/Synths
Drums on this recording by Emidio Alexandre Ramos
Guest vocals on ‘Two Years Of Grief’ by Natalia Deprina
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