Chico, California’s droney doom/sludge band Amarok‘s sophomore album Resilience features guest vocals from Neurosis’ Dave Edwardson (on “Charred [X]”) and Mizmor’s A.L.N. (on “Penance [XII]”), and it comes out this Friday (6/28) via Vulture Print/Vendetta Records, but you don’t have to wait that long to hear it. A full stream premieres in this post, along with a track-by-track breakdown by the band.
“Resilience is a concept album about accepting and overcoming loss, expressed in four epic songs that each give voice to a specific kind of grief process: losing your home, losing your self, losing your faith, and losing a loved one,” the band tells us. “It is a testament to the perseverance required to process grief, alchemize pain into growth, and pull hope from the void of darkness and despair. RESILIENCE serves as a reminder that just as nature regenerates after the earth has been scorched, humans have the same transformational capacity.”
The album was recorded and mixed by Greg Wilkinson, mastered by James Plotkin, and also features cello (on “Ascension [XI]”) by Jaed, and it’s a towering offering of slow-paced, heavy/beautiful post-metal. Stream it below and read on to see what the band had to say about each song.
Amarok are also touring with Mizmor, including a show at NYC’s TV Eye on July 23. All dates are listed below.
Pre-order Amarok’s new album on physical or digital.
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A TRACK-BY-TRACK BREAKDOWN OF AMAROK’S RESILIENCE
“Charred (X)”
Brandon Squyres (bass/vocals):
This song symbolically represents the near total loss of family and friends’ homes, including our guitarist’s childhood home, in the Camp Fire. The most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history. An experience that can’t really be put into words. Pain like this is hard to share even among friends, so we speak the truth of loss in this song. Like all the songs on this record, there is another side to loss. Grief can be empowering, fire is cleansing, and new growth emerges from the ash and ruin.
We were blessed to have Dave Edwardson (Neurosis) do guest vocals on this track. Dave is a good friend of the band, and someone we have all looked up to for inspiration musically. As someone who also lives in California, he is well aware of the tragedies and sorrow that can accompany the fires that plague our state regularly. It’s hard to live here and not be affected by them. His voice being added to the track was really special. There is so much emotion in his vocal deliveries.
Nathan Collins (guitar):
In that fire, I lost the house I grew up in, the community that shaped me, many of the natural places I used to explore and escape to, coming-of-age in a small mountain town. Nothing there is the same, and when the landscape of your youth is forever changed, gone forever, you lose more than just physical things. Going home brings back memories, and when that home no longer exists, even your memories start to fade. You don’t even know what you’ve lost. The middle quiet section represents that realization to me, after the destruction, the calm before the real storm.
You can hear some of the pain of that in my guitar solo. What you hear on the album was actually the first take we recorded. I got into my head after that and struggled to get back into the feeling in the same way. As Brandon says, pain like that is hard to show, even among your friends. Brandon asked me to contribute quite a few lines to these lyrics, and while some were dark, most were hopeful. The morning (mourning) star imagery is very powerful.
“Ascension (XI)”
Kenny Ruggles-Alaniz (guitar/vocals):
The concept I expressed lyrically in Ascension (XI) is about the alchemy involved in my personal healing journey, uncovering hard truths, while undergoing some intense releases of trauma.
Nathan Collins (guitar):
Ascension (XII) is an expression of the journey inward, losing yourself along the way, and discovering self-knowledge in order to ascend. Musically, the song folds in on itself, to symbolize the descent down into the depths of self. Finding a path down into that inner hell.
The middle section features the most disgusting atonal riff I’ve ever written, starting with my one lone guitar then joined by all in this punishing riff, and the song painfully but powerfully claws its way back out. Repeating each of the more harmonic guitar riffs from the first half in reverse order. It’s rare in an AMAROK song to return earlier riffs, as each song represents a journey from one place to another, but we do it here intentionally to express that inward-outward concept of loss-of-self and self-discovery. As above, so below.
The structure of this song is a showcase of Brandon’s approach to songwriting, and my favorite layer here might be Jaed’s cello playing. Brandon loves bringing in strings to add texture and sweeping dynamics, and Jaed’s cello vibrato and breathy bow work expresses so much raw emotion. Jaed is a beloved local artist in our town and a secret classically-trained cellist.
“Interlude”
Nathan Collins (guitar):
The interlude started as a musical concept between me and Kenny. We’ve been playing and writing this kind of music together for about ten years now and have developed a kind of telepathy with some things. We each bring very different perspectives to the guitar and can each see things that the other doesn’t. We fill in the missing pieces for each other. That bond of friendship and musicianship grew into this midway point for the album. It represents a place where you can pause and reflect on how far you’ve come.
“Penance (XII)”
Kenny Ruggles-Alaniz (guitar/vocals):
Penance (XII) lyrically is a song that is personal to me and my upbringing. Being raised in a sect of the Christian church, and the fear and endless repentance that goes along with it. It was rough to get out of that, and the lyrics tell a part of that story. Taking your own power back and stating that no penance is necessary.
Musically I wanted the riffs in this song to reflect that story. It is poetic. It is cathartic, and the guitar harmonies encompass the beauty in breaking the chains. While the chunky sections are much like moving the dense energy of the church. It was all intentionally crafted.
We found it fitting to ask A.L.N. of Mizmor to contribute some vocal passages to the last section of the song, as he is a personal friend who knows the subject matter better than most, and has expressed his own difficult relationship to Christianity in his music.
Nathan Collins (guitar):
When Kenny growls the refrain “NO PENANCE” over and over, it’s so cathartic to me. I love playing that part. As someone also raised in a somewhat radical sect of Christianity, I relate to what Kenny and our friend A.L.N. express here lyrically and musically. Losing your faith and finding faith in yourself instead is a difficult path. I’ve lived it and seen so many people close to me live through it. It’s an incredible loss, but there is so much inner strength to gain on the other side. It represents freedom from shame.
“Legacy (XIII)”
Brandon Squyres (bass/vocals):
Legacy (XIII) is the most personal song I have ever written lyric-wise. I wrote about the death of my father, but it has changed to have a much broader meaning to me, including the legacy left by too many of my friends that have passed. It’s a song that deals with the feelings of grief of losing someone you care about, and then trying to focus on what they contributed to your life instead of what you lost. It’s a really hard song for me to perform live, but one that I think is extremely important. Both for my own growth, and for the tribute to those that have meant so much to our lives.
Nathan Collins (guitar):
I started writing the musical framework for Legacy (XIII) during a very tough time, and when I showed it to Brandon, he asked me if he could sit with it and write lyrics about his father’s passing. I was honored to join him in that grief, and we put everything we had into this song to do it justice. Layers and layers.
When I recorded the acoustic part, it was dead silent in the studio. When Brandon was recording his lyrics, no one said a word. I honestly had tears in my eyes while listening to him over the monitors. It was that intense. His vocals, held up by a few lines from Kenny, speak to the pain, but also to the power in this song. Because this song doesn’t change time signatures or bpm like your usual AMAROK song, Colby was able to be very freeform with drums on this. He just felt it, and we all felt it together, I think.
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Amarok — 2024 Tour Dates
7/06/2024 Naked Lounge – Chico, CA (Resilience release show)
supporting Mizmor:
7/09/2024 Knucklehead – Los Angeles, CA
7/10/2024 Nile Underground – Phoenix, AZ
7/11/2024 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM
7/12/2024 Rockhouse Bar – El Paso, TX
7/13/2024 Lost Well – Austin, TX
7/14/2024 Cheapsteaks – Dallas, TX
7/15/2024 Hi-Tone – Memphis, TN (no Mizmor)
7/16/2024 Drkmttr – Nashville, TN
7/17/2024 Black Circle – Indianapolis, IN
7/18/2024 Sanctuary – Detroit, MI
7/19/2024 Garrison – Toronto, ON
7/20/2024 Piranha (Upstairs) – Montreal, QC
7/21/2024 Ralph’s Diner – Worcester, MA
7/23/2024 TV Eye – Queens, NY
7/24/2024 Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
7/25/2024 Mr. Smalls Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
7/26/2024 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL
7/27/2024 Cosmic Eye – Lincoln, NE
7/28/2024 The Crypt – Denver, CO
7/29/2024 Metro Music Hall – Salt Lake City, UT
7/30/2024 Holland Project – Reno, NV (no Mizmor)
7/31/2024 Thee Stork Club – Oakland, CA