Tethra – Like Crows for the Earth (Sliptrick Records, 11 February 2017 EU / 23 July 2017 US)

In recent years, many small and medium-sized clubs dedicated to metal music have closed or changed their genre because of the low attendance at the concerts.

It’s a global phenomenon that, if it does not have a clear turnabout, will oblige all industry employees to make drastic decisions.

We would like to raise awareness among all fans of this genre about this topic, assuming a catastrophic scenario for the next future: what will happen when the last live club will also close? Will emerging bands play no more or will they totally rely on aseptic live streaming from rehearsal studio and improvised venues?

For this reason, Thursday 8th June at 22pm (Italian time), we’ll play a full set Live Streaming show in a real live venue open just for us; furthermore, to give everyone the opportunity to participate in this event, we’ll keep the video online for 24 hours.

You can follow the event through our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TethraHell

This is our particular contribution to the cause, hoping to be able to induce a reflection before this catastrophic scenario becomes a reality, because that night we will create a paradox that more than one band has had to endure in its career: playing in an empty room … will you be with us?

 
With these words, Italian doom metal band Tethra (who formed nearly a decade ago in Novara) have announced that they will be playing a show in an empty room, to be broadcast live on Facebook TONIGHT (actually, THIS AFTERNOON if you live in the U.S. — click here to see when, in your own time zone) as a scheme to draw attention to the trend of falling attendance levels at shows. Which is kind of an interesting concept, if you think about it — if the event ends up being wildly successful it will definitely get their message across, but at the same time, it seems like that would only be reinforcing the band’s dire assessment of the current live music scene?

In any case, I did want to share this information with you, so that you could watch the performance and take part in this grand experiment. And I also wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Tethra‘s new release, which has been out a few months in Europe by way of Sliptrick Records in Latvia, while the label’s American division is scheduled for a release next month.

The title Like Crows for the Earth apparently takes the metaphoric view of crows, where the bird is traditionally viewed as a harbinger of death or ill fortune; and in this case it’s the whole of mankind represented as a deadly threat to the earth. The album takes on a tone befitting such morose and grave subject matter, with titles such as “Prelude to Sadness” that leads directly into “Springtime Melancholy” and later, “Synchronicity of Life and Decay” and even the starkly ominous “Earthless.”

Generally the album is structured with several introductory or transitory tracks, which often give off a sense of serenity simultaneously with a feeling of foreboding, as they then blend directly into the beginning of the following song whereupon the full band will enter with a huge and all-encompassing sound. This is paired with vocals that run the gamut from a blackened (or blackened-death) style through melodic clean singing with a strong baritone voice that ranges from a gothic sound to more of an epic doom metal grandeur.

Some of the album’s highlights include “Deserted” which starts off with a sitar that then merges into a dark, doomy guitar riff with a bit of groove behind it; “Transcending Thanatos,” the massive first full song, whose epic doom arrangement with vaguely black-metal-esque tinges around the edges places the band sort of halfway between Primordial and Hail Spirit Noir; and the morose overcast mood of the title track seems to recall latter-day Woods of Ypres to close out the album.

Check out more details about the band’s Facebook live stream here, and Like Crows for the Earth is available to buy right here.

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