Album Name: False Dawn
Artist: Spacelord Ed Grabianowski: Vocals, Drums Richard Root: Guitars, Bass, Producer
Released: November 2021
Label: Independant
Rating: 8/10
Tracklist
Enemy Lines
Broken Teeth Ritual
How The Devil Got Into You
Breakers
Crypt Ghost
All Night Drive
M-60
Starswan
Upcoming album 'False Dawn' from Buffalo based stoner rockers Spacelord is one I have been eagerly anticipating. I'm happy to say I was far from disappointed while listening to this 8 track adventure that is full of rises and falls and allows you to see the bands many influences incorporated to create a wonderful album. 'False Dawn' will be available on the 5th of November. The duo that is Spacelord have previously made Doom Charts with their last two albums and in 2019 they also played the Descendant of Crom Festival and the Music is Art Festival. After the pandemic hit the pair began working on what is now 'False Dawn'. The project began as a small acoustic thing but with time turned into this large sounding album.
"Some of the music was written in the days and weeks that followed the death of my brother, while some others were concepts I had wanted to explore for a long while. We're taking the personal impressions of all our influences ad amalgamating them into something that makes us feel like the music we love makes us feel." (Richard Root, Guitarist)
Something that stands out to me with 'False Dawn' is the musical versatility within. Every song could quite easily fit into a 70's or 90's rock genre but the combination of these sounds also makes it something a little different. Songs like 'Breakers' and especially 'M-60' to me had that Alice in Chains influence clearly imprinted on them but are far from copying that known grungy sound. Whereas tracks like opener and first single 'Enemy Lines' and 'Starswan' seem to me to be more influenced by the 70's rock sound. This slight variation throughout 'False Dawn' kept me very interested. Having only really heard songs like 'Enemy Lines' or 'Midnight Shadow' from Spacelord before it was really cool for me to see them have some songs that are a little bit heavier but still in keeping with their stoner rock aesthetic. As always when talking about albums I have to point my faourite track: for me this is hands down 'Crypt Ghost'. This one begins by fooling you into thinking it's gonna be a chilled out acoustic like 'How The Devil Got Into You' but then unexpectedly the drums come crashing in and all of a sudden you are woken up and giving your attention fully to this awesome song. The vocals on this track are also really cool having this kind of echoey effect and overall 'Crypt Ghost' feels like a grunge song that I would expect to hear on some 90's tv show stealing the scene.
"This album is where we've really become who we are as songwriters." (Ed Grabianowski, Vocalist)
"We're getting better at unifying and expressing our vision of Spacelord music" (Richard Root, Guitarist)
Another cool thing about 'False Dawn' that I feel is very fitting to the public personality of this band is that the album cover was created by an AI program called Artbreeder. Spacelord definitely seem like the kind of guys that would be into experimenting with this unusual way of creating art and honestly I think it paid off. The cover which appears different to anyone who looks upon it, to me is this beautiful destruction scene, something that contains pain but the kind of pain where the light at the end is beginning to come into focus.
"I love that the art feels powerful even though its creator had no way to imbue it with meaning, or really any concept of meaning at all. As you look at this art, you realize that the responsibility for deciding what it means or represents is entirely on you. Everyone I talk to sees something different in it." (Ed Grabianowski, Vocalist)
'False Dawn' overall for me is something that stands out against a lot of other music that is relevant right now. Spacelord are doing something different while bringing back a sound that many people have forgotten. All eight tracks give you something new and exciting to listen to from crashing drum beats to distorted guitar solos to bass driven tracks; there really is a nice mix of instrumental talent within. If you're a fan of 70's acid rock like Zeppelin and Sabbath or dark, heavy sounding music like Soundgarden or Alice In Chains definitely check these guys out.
Pre order 'False Dawn' to get 6 tracks now HERE
Check out Spacelord online
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