In a world exclusive, ZT have teamed up with our friends at Prosthetic Records to bring you an exclusive stream of the upcoming Howling Sycamore album
Prosthetic Records proudly presents HOWLING SYCAMORE, the innovative new extreme metal / progressive metal exploration from masterminds Jason McMaster (WatchTower), Davide Tiso (Ephel Duath) and Hannes Grossmann (Necrophagist, Obscura). Special guests Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House) and Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia) add to this already stellar cast.
Speaking exclusively to ZT, Davide Tiso sheds some light onto the album:
“I guess one of the most frustrating aspect of being a musician is having to wait around for the action to start. A musician waits for that hour on stage all day while touring. The other hours are spent trying to not get too crazy. A musician has usually to wait even longer to see his/her album released: I heard horror-like stories of bands having to wait for almost a year for the label to put out the album. When I started Howling Sycamore I had the feeling that putting together the album was going to be a fast process, releasing it was going to be a headache. The opposite happened. For a reason or another the recording, mixing and mastering process for the Howling Sycamore debut took longer than I expected, while finding a label willing to print right away took less than a week. I still can’t believe Howling Sycamore debut is coming out in less than a week for such a great label as Prosthetic Records. During the second half of October, producer Scott Evans, mastering engineer Brad Boatright and myself where still going crazy going back and forth between new mixes and new mastering options to listen to. Having the album out in few days fills me up with such a bright sense of accomplishment and gratitude. Howling Sycamore will be out on Jan 26th and all my personal economical struggles, the diminishing daily jobs, the existential doubts and all the difficulties that life presents somehow disappears to make room to music to be celebrated. In the end, it is worth it to keep pushing, to keep searching and to keep investing in new projects: this is the lesson I keep learning again and again. No matter how rough it is to be a musician these days it is undeniable the importance and the emotional benefits of keep trying. It still give life a deep purpose no matter how many copies you will sell.
Multi-talented guitarist and producer, Davide Tiso (Ephel Duath, Gospel of the Witches), was always fascinated by the symbolism of the sycamore tree, which has special significance in Egyptian religion and which “bridged the world of the dead and the living” in David Lynch’s cult TV series. Visually the sycamore is particularly striking in winter when it gains a ghost like appeal: the bark turns white and it reflects the moonlight in otherworldly ways, bearing not only mystery but also a certain component of solitude and pain. These were the inspirations for Tiso as he assembled his extreme, progressive ensemble, HOWLING SYCAMORE. Tiso elaborates, “Howling Sycamore was born from the stubborn idea of melting together different styles of heavy music into something powerful, sincere and with a strong identity. I wanted to mix extreme metal drumming, layered down-tuned guitars and old school prog metal singing. Add to the equation also baritone sax freak outs plus mid-era Death guitar solos. I can proudly say that our debut album sounds like exactly the idea I was chasing in my head. I’m so grateful that these amazing musicians helped shape the album into the beautiful weirdness that it became.”
It took approximately a year to put everything together. During this time some very special guest musicians had the chance to contribute to the songs: Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Brain Tentacles) on baritone saxophone, Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Gorguts) on guitars, Fester (Burials, Humorous) on guitars. Finally, in August 2017 Howling Sycamore’s debut album was mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Studios in Portland, OR. The self-titled album will be released on January 26th on all digital platforms, compact disc and a limited edition, silver vinyl LP on Prosthetic Records.
