ARCHITEUTHIS REX
The Italian doom duo Architeuthis Rex (Antonio Gallucci & Francesca Marongiu) is returning with their third full length album and their first vinyl release: Stilbon Is Dead.
After an intense journey through different variation of doom music in the last half decade, Architeuthis Rex return with their very own version of doom. “Stilbon is Dead” is their most concentrated batch of impulsive sounds, breaking out of your speakers. It´s just a few seconds warning footstep field recordings at the beginning of the album, if you overstep this moment you will find yourself in a doom cave with accentuated guitars, beautiful siren vocals, unseizable synthiesounds and very erratic drums.
Speaking of drums, this album is the first release including drums by the new third bandmember Francesco Gregoretti. And speaking of other musicians, Architeuthis Rex asked their friend Terence Hannum (Locrian) to do some vocals for “Almagest”. The result is a haunting track with locrian-ish vocals.
“Stilbon Is Dead” has been largely inspired by the idea of “gleaminess”, as spoken in the Ancient Greek Mythology, referred to one of the aspects of Planet Mercury. The Greeks could see Mercury in the morning and at dusk. In the 8th century B.C., they thought that it was two different planets, so they gave it two names: Stilbon, “the gleaming”, as the Morning Star, and Hermaon, the Evening Star. Lately, probably thanks to Pythagoras, they realized that both Stilbon and Hermaon were the same planet, and they called it Hermes, the Greek name for Planet Mercury.
The idea of a dead Stilbon symbolizes both the concept of darkness and gleaminess, which can be traced in the metallic light of the world in the Antropocene Era. This light can also be a glare of the ancestral origins of the Universe and the Earth, when science and mythology were melted. Alchemy and sci-fi have always been major interests to Architeuthis Rex, so this is a way to connect James Ballard with Pythagoras, Ursula K. Le Guin with Robert Fludd, all encompassed in an overflowing, gloom and gleamy present.
Well, looking on this concept of music, alchemy and sci-fi, we had to find a package for the album. The band discovered the work of artist Christopher Colville and his series “Work of Fire” fits perfectly. This works are a perfect allegorical image of what the band created with “Stilbon Is Dead”. The result will impress you.
“Stilbon Is Dead” comes in an edition of 300 copies on swamp green 12inch vinyl, housed in matt outersleeve containing the artwork of Christopher Colville. The LP comes with a download code including a different master of the album and a bonus track.
First 50 preorders will get a CD including the digital master of the album, plus a bonus track.
01. Copper Light / 02. Oikoumene / 03. Almagest (feat. Terence Hannum)
04. Fallen / 05. Atol / 06. Stilbon / 07. Magma (Digital Bonus Track)
