ISAAK - 'The Longer The Beard, The Harder The Sound'
Long regarded as a rising force within Italy's underground stoner rock scene (where they were previously known as Gandhi's Gunn) Genoa's freshly renamed Isaak are now spreading their bruising bombast across the world with the help of Detroit, MI's Small Stone Records.
If the long ironed haired, leather waist coated, Gibson SG hordes of retro rockers from Sweden and the UK are reviving metal to a young, hipper and wider crowd, these atypical stoner rock Italians are defying fashion with their fusion of US styled '90s stoner and contemporary psychedelic rock. It's loud, honed and cerebral. Monster Magnet meets Sabbath via Iron Maiden into Fu Manchu and the kind of stadium fitting progressive rock that have made Muse legends. Neither new nor retro this is deep voiced stoner rock with a fist in the hair. But... its audience will no doubt go far beyond the metal elite.
The quartet, which is comprised of vocalist Hobo, guitarist Scazzi, bassist Maso and drummer Andre, was first inspired into action by the legendary works of the major names of American stoner rock - namely Corrosion of Conformity, Fu Manchu and Clutch.
And yet both their first LP, 2010's Thirtyeahs (which was issued in a limited run of 300, hand-numbered vinyl + CD packages by Taxi Driver Records), and its 2012 sophomore follow-up, The Longer The Beard, The Harder The Sound, clearly revealed a band ready to transcend these core influences and explore more visionary and psychedelic territories.
We're talking... churning riffs, elephantine grooves and raging growls, seasoned to perfection with lysergic flights, epic jams and even some mesmerizing Floydian passages, before being served al dente for consumption by our most discerning stoner rock patrons.
This rich musical palate undoubtedly benefited from Gandhi's Gunn/Isaak solid two years of intense concert activity, which found them sharing Italian stages with international luminaries such as Church of Misery (Japan), Los Natas (Argentina), Nadja (Canada) and Amen Ra (Belgium) - plus a slew of U.S.-based concerns, including Acid King, Atomic Bitchwax, Big Business, 16, Unsane and Clutch.
Come October 2012 the Gandhi's Gunn name was retired and the singularly named Isaak were born, just in time for the band's signing with Small Stone, which is now happy to announce the imminent global reissue of The Longer The Beard, The Harder The Sound.
Newly expanded with four tracks (including covers of Pink Floyd's 'Fearless' and Iron Maiden's 'Wrathchild), the album has also been remixed by Eric Hoegemeyer at Brooklyn, NY's Tree Laboratory and mastered by Chris Goosman at Ann Arbor, MI's Baseline Audio Labs.
Rock... is served.
ISAAK
The Longer The Beard
The Harder The Sound
Small Stone
Cat. No: SS-140
Formats: CD/Download
Release Date: July 2013
Quelle: No Other Publicity