Tag Archives: City of Ships

Rosetta – Quintessential Ephemera

Posted on by

GD30OB2-N.cdr

I wasn’t part of the clamour surrounding The Anaesthete (Independent release), the band’s previous album; feeling that I couldn’t connect with it and surely, with post-metal, that’s the main objective. Quintessential Ephemera (Golden Antenna/Init/Tokyo Jupiter/War Crime – aye, there really are that many labels involved in the distribution of this fifth full-length from Pennsylvanian Post-men Rosetta.) begins promisingly; the delicate, jangling lead interspersing with icicle-drop keys to give a gentle yet affecting introduction. When Mike Armine’s roar bursts through, along with the pounding drums of ‘(Untitled I)’, the agony is palpable and decorated with the beautiful yet stark chords you’d expect, shimmering exquisitely over BJ McMurtrie’s intricate and creative stickwork. New addition Eric Jernigan of longtime tourmates City of Ships on guitar and vocals makes a large impact. The intermittent use of clean vocals does display an occasional leaning towards Metalcore and Nu Metal, and here a little passion is lost. Those chiming guitars do, however, keep the energy fizzing alongside the progressive rhythms; the breakdown into the easy Shoegaze of ‘(Untitled II)’ – yes, you can see where this is going – reminiscent of state brethren August Burns Red’s quieter moments.

The big debate about Rosetta is whether their ‘emotion’ feels contrived in comparison to the likes of Amber’s ‘Lovesaken’ opus, in which each scream or twisted chord pierced the heart. The explosions of ‘(…II)’s second half finally bring those goosebumps; whilst the more subtle elements of ‘(Untitled III)’ are a pensive yet rhythmic beauty which make way for intelligent, measured yet angry and occasionally pulsating angst. Even the sample-laden ‘(Untitled IV)’ is pure heartfelt expression, while the twisted melancholic crush of ‘(Untitled V)’ allows that shattered organ to slide away on a magic carpet of licks straight from The Edge’s handbook; Armine’s cavernous bellow tearing through the wonderfully drummed, soothing noise of the album’s most inventive, standout track.

Complex yet unbelievably moving, the soundscapes spanning this agonised, bruising album are immense: the resonance of ‘(Untitled VII)’s brooding bombast filling the mind, its delicate verses soothing the disquiet whilst rising, almost elegiac leads duel with those mesmeric drums. The aching void of aptly-named closer ‘Nothing in the Guise of Something’ initially seems a strange choice to close such a huge set; yet is, in turn, the kind of intelligent masterstroke these boys obviously have in abundance. Quintessential Ephemera is a true listening experience and a journey of the soul.

 

8.5/10

Rosetta on Facebook

PAUL QUINN


City of Ships – Ultraluminal

Posted on by

11076195_10152717780679499_6714206620450424520_n

It took me about three seconds of the opening bars of ‘The Light You Stole’, the first track on City of Ships’ third, full length album, the really quite brilliant Ultraluminal (Translation Loss) to know that I had fallen in love with it. In fact, it took just one listen of this record to realise that Ultraluminal had gotten under my skin and was going to stay there like a freshly inked tattoo. City of Ships are positively brimming with intelligence, insight and verve. This is the sort of record that makes you feel a little bit smarter, a bit better about yourself and a lot better about the world.

On the band’s second record, the underground classic of Minor World (Sound Study), their brilliance with atmospherics and textures was matched by a muscularity and power that beguiled and bewitched. On Ultraluminal, the first thing you’re struck by is the brevity of it all. This is a album of distillation: of thought process, of musical dexterity, of creative imagination.

As with many bands where lazy listeners look for an easy and comforting pigeonhole, you could lump City of Ships into that strange hinterland known as post-rock whatever that means. Admittedly, there’s certainly plenty of guitar driven histrionics that anyone with a passing knowledge of Thrice or Quicksand would find to their liking but I think that does them something of a disservice. On ‘Alarm’, for example, I found myself being swept back to my college shoe-gazing days with all the psychedelic and swooning melodies that conjures in the memory. Equally, the plaintive and emotional vocals of lead singer Eric Jernigan means that you’re vicariously living his pain, joy and ennui as clearly and acutely as he is rather than looking for a convenient label to pin on them. Have a listen to the mournful ‘Lost It’ or the punky and feedback drenched ‘Private Party’ and you’ll get a sense of what I’m talking about.

There’s a focus and immediacy to the tracks on Ultraluminal that also impresses. Ultraluminal is notable for its punk aesthetic allied to a renewed belief in the power of writing, you know, actual songs. The closing track ‘Mile High’ perhaps being a case in point: it’s a minor chord, melancholic masterpiece. You don’t get alliteration like that everyday, kids.

Ultraluminal is a record that I keep thinking about when it’s not on and keep thinking about when it is on. You know that old, familiar adage about a band being able to do no wrong; on Ultraluminal, you get the idea that the hyperbole might just be justified.

9.0/10

City of Ships on Facebook

MAT DAVIES


Skindred, Cancer Bats, etc Confirmed For Hit The Deck Festival

Posted on by

hit the deck 2015

Hit The Deck Festival has confirmed its lineup for the 2015 edition, which is happening in Bristol (UK) on April 25, 2015 and Nottingham (UK) on April 26, 2015.

Skindred
While She Sleeps
Cancer Bats
A Great Big Pile Of Leaves
Allusondrugs
Ashes
As It Is
Bad Sign
Black Peaks
Brawlers
Calabrese
City Of Ships
Dead!
Dead Harts
Decade
Devil Sold His Soul
The Early November
Frnkiero AndThe Cellabration
Hacktivist
Hundredth
Idiom
John Coffey
JPNSGRLS
Junius
MC Lars
Oathbreaker
Oceans Ate Alaska
Rolo Tomassi
The Swellers
Tellison
Thomas Nicholas Band
Tim Vantol
When We Were Wolves
The Xcerts
You Blew It!
Zoax

hit the deck fest 2015


Video: City Of Ships – Alarm

Posted on by

city of ships pic

City Of Ships is streaming their music video for “Alarm,” off of Ultraluminal, out now via Translation Loss below.

Stream “The Light You Stole,” off of Ultraluminal below.

Since forming in 2006, City Of Ships has consistently impressed audiences with their distinctive brand of heavy, down-tuned melodic rock. Their third full-length, Ultraluminal, finds the band building sonic skyscrapers on the foundations laid by their previous two LPs. With its ten expertly-crafted new songs co-produced by veteran recordist Andrew Schneider (Big Business, Cave-In, Pelican) and mastered by Carl Saff (Guided By Voices, Young Widows), the album is an unequivocal game-changing declaration from one of America’s most compelling underground bands.

City of Ships on Facebook
City Of Ships on Twitter
City Of Ships on Bandcamp


City Of Ships Supporting Junius On Upcoming April Euro Tour

Posted on by

Junius_Instagram-2

City Of Ships has an upcoming April European tour supporting Junius, with dates posted below.

Apr 05: Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY
Apr 09: Vortex – Siegen (DE)
Apr 10: Cul de Sac – Tilberg (NL) (Roadburn Festival)
Apr 11: Dudefest – Karlsruhe (NL)
Apr 12: Panic Room – Essen (DE)
Apr 13: headCRASH – Hamburg (DE)
Apr 14: Underwerket – Copenhagen (DK)
Apr 15: Magnet – Berlin (DE)
Apr 16: Conne Island – Leipzig (DE)
Apr 17: Arena – Vienna (AU)
Apr 18: Lo Fi Club – Milan (IT)
Apr 19: Feierwerk – Munich (DE)
Apr 22: Covent Garden – Eragny (FR)
Apr 23: Kavka – Antwerp (BE)
Apr 24: Barfly – London (UK)
Apr 25: Hick the Deck Festival – Bristol (UK)
Apr 26: Hit The Deck Festival – Nottingham (UK)


City Of Ships Streaming “The Light You Stole”

Posted on by

city of ships

Post hardcore outfit City Of Ships is streaming “The Light You Stole,” off Ultraluminal, out March 20, 2015 via Translation Loss, here.

Since forming in 2006, City Of Ships has consistently impressed audiences with their distinctive brand of heavy, down-tuned melodic rock. Their third full-length, Ultraluminal, finds the band building sonic skyscrapers on the foundations laid by their previous two LPs. With its ten expertly-crafted new songs co-produced by veteran recordist Andrew Schneider (Big Business, Cave-In, Pelican) and mastered by Carl Saff (Guided By Voices, Young Widows), the album is an unequivocal game-changing declaration from one of America’s most compelling underground bands.

Ultraluminal marks its territory with expansive guitar work, growling bass lines, and thunderous drumming. Vocalist Eric Jernigan harnesses his trademark shifts from soaring, gravel-throated anthems into tranquilizing melodic bliss, just as the songs themselves effortlessly cascade in coruscating crashes. Tracks like “Alarm” and “Medata Blues” demonstrate immaculate poise and imaginative lyrical prowess as City Of Ships keeps a white-knuckled grip on their surging dynamics.

Ultraluminal Track Listing:
01. The Light You Stole
02. Alarm
03. Metadata Blues
04. Preeminence
05. Private Party
06. Illawarra Escarpment
07. Lost It
08. Hardwired
09. The Old Man
10. Mile High

City Of Ships on Twitter
City Of Ships on Bandcamp


Junius to Embark on Headline Tour of Western Europe

Posted on by

junius tour poster

 

Post-rock masters Junius have plotted a headline trek of dates across western Europe, beginning this April. The band is on the road supporting 2014’s brilliant Days of The Fallen Sun EP (Prosthetic). Most of the dates have City of Ships as the supporting act and notable stops on the tour include an appearance at this year’s epic Roadburn Festival and ending with the Hit The Deck fest in the UK.

 

Press Notes:

Post-rock outfit JUNIUS has announced a series of headlining dates across western Europe this April surrounding their appearance at The Netherlands’ prestigous annual Roadburn Festival (Solstafir, Russian Circles, Anathema), which this year is being curated by Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) and Wardruna’s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik. The band will kick off their tour in Siegen, Germany on April 9 with support from Brooklyn-based rock trio City of Ships and wrap up two weeks later with a two-date appearance at UK’s Hit the Deck Festival (Cancer Bats, While She Sleeps) in Bristol and Nottingham!

JUNIUS-DOTFS_Digital_Cover-500-72dpi

TOUR DATES

4/9 Siegen, DE – Vortex #

4/10 Tilburg, NL – Roadburn Festival @ 015 Venue

4/11 Karlsruhe, DE – Dudefest

4/12 Essen, DE – Panic Room #

4/13 Hamburg, DE – Headcrash #

4/14 Copenhagen, DK – UnderWerket #

4/15 Berlin, DE – Magnet #

4/16 Leipzig, DE – Conne Island #

4/17 Wien, AT – Arena #

4/18 Milano, IT – Lo Fi Club (Pescara Festival) #

4/19 Munchen, DE – Feierwerk #

4/22 Paris, FR – Covent Garden #

4/23 Antwerp, BE – Kavka #

4/24 London, UK – Barfly #

4/25 Bristol, UK – Hit The Deck Festival

4/26 Nottingham, UK – Hit The Deck Festival

# with City of Ships


Roadburn Festival Announce New Additions

Posted on by

roadburn festival 2015 logo

Roadburn Festival has new additions to their 20th edition of the festival, taking place April 9-12, 2015 in Tilberg, The Netherlands.

Roadburn 2015’s curators Wardruna’s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik and Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson have almost completed the line up for their event on Friday April 10. Loop main man, Robert Hampson and Swedish psych heroes, Agusa will both perform alongside Focus, Death Hawks, Sólstafir and others. BardSpec – the Ambient project/band from Enslaved composer/guitarist Ivar – will also perform at the event. Einar will present a workshop which will delve into his approach to music and the extensive creative concept behind Wardruna´s ongoing ‘Runaljod’ trilogy as well as his approach and study of the runes and other Norse esoteric arts. He will demonstrate a selection of the oldest Nordic instruments, play fully accoustic Wardruna music and there will also be time for questions from the audience.

Other bands added to the event include:

Briqueville
Moaning Cities
Your Highness
King Hiss
Tangled Horns
Ashtoreth
Miava
Gnaw Their Tongues
Abrahma
IZAH
Hypnos
Verbum Verus
City of Ships
Big Naturals
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell
Death Penalty

Roadburn Festival on Facebook
Roadburn Festival on Twitter