Azusa’s Heavy Yoke: Full Stream Available Now!
It took us a while to get on the Azusa train, but don’t worry, we’re mega fans now. The supergroup featuring members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Extol, and Sea + Air are dropping their debut album next Friday (November 16th), but a full stream of Heavy Yoke is available now, courtesy of NPR!
Don’t wait on this one. It’s one of the strangest, most dynamic, and utterly captivating releases of the year, leaping from avant-garde wackiness to dreamlike, psychedelic art pop without a flinch. This musical fluctuation is in line with the overall concept of the album, which explores the duality of human nature and the impact of their relationships.
Remember that time we said metal vocalists are irrelevant? No longer true! We just needed somebody with a bit more ingenuity to take the mic, and Berlin-based Greek singer Eleni Zafiriadou is the best thing we could have asked for. Her anguished howls set the stage for Azusa’s erraticism, only to switch gears and lay down some haunting cleans influenced by her indie-pop duo Sea + Air. Zafiriadou’s unique vocal abilities are the key to Azusa’s distinctiveness, and she’s doing the world a favor by bringing something fresh to the metal world.
