Pennies By The Pound release 'Heat Death of the Universe' LP with support from Ride's Mark Gardener
FOR FANS OF: Bob Mould, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Marillion, Jethro Tull, Steven Wilson, Marty Willson-Piper, Guided By Voices, The Persian Leaps
FCC clean
Photos by Henry Söderlund
FOR SHARING
Bandcamp https://penniesbythepound.bandcamp.com/album/heat-death-of-the-universe
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/2vtaujl88GUA0F5nXOArht
Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/heat-death-of-the-universe/1566872818
'Indigo Screams' https://youtu.be/UrOimjY1ZV0
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/j-sus-
FOR REVIEW & AIRPLAY
Album stream (review only) https://soundcloud.com/j-
Online press kit https://shamelesspromotion.haulix.com/Public/View/90567
Download via Dropbox https://bit.ly/3xKfpJP
"Pennies By The Pound have more in common with 60s psych-driven rock and 80s American college rock than with their Fenno-Scandian peers. Such a big and extravagant classic psychedelic rock. Wherever they may draw their influences from, one thing is for sure: this is brilliant music for here and now, wherever that may be" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
“There’s special cases like Susitaival, who will forever remain as a 90’s teenager, regardless of how the world changes or how one’s body might age” ~ Niko Peltonen (Soundi)
"A trippy ride that recalls the familiar vibes and sounds of none other than Bob Mould, The Church / Marty Willson-Piper, Marillion and Jethro Tull. Yes, all of them and yes, this is actually possible. Loads of flair and professionalism from the band" ~ Amplify Music Magazine
"Indeed a wonderful affair... Pennies By the Pound should be on everyone’s radar as a must-have album of 2021 and a band to watch in future" ~ The Record Stache
Finnish prog-psych rockers Pennies By The Pound have released their album 'Heat Death of the Universe' via Lilith Records, mastered by Ride frontman Mark Gardener at his OX4Sound Studio near Oxford. This long-player was produced, recorded and mixed by Rauli 'Rake' Eskolin, a rather achieved Finnish producer who has worked on over a dozen No. 1 records in Finland in the past 20 years.
Pennies By The Pound's sound blends '80s prog rock and '90s-early '00s alternative rock - essentially heavily guitar-driven with a touch of keyboards... Big choruses, quite a few guitar and keyboard solos and grandiose arrangements.
"Lyrically, there is a loose theme on the album about the way people continue to actually socially distance themselves from others (even without or before the pandemic) due to the influence of social media and maybe the internet in general. The album title is a nod to that, the "heat death of the universe" being the lack of and eventual end of real-life social connections between people," says Johannes Susitaival.
Hailing from Helsinki, Pennies by the Pound was formed in 2016 by Johannes Susitaival as a solo project, but it quickly became a three-piece involving musicians from his past bands. Ahead of this, the band previewed lead track 'Indigo Screams', along with accompanying lyrics video.
While still part of a punk rock band, Johannes began exploring some quite different musical avenues, which led to the self-produced 'Bloodshed and the Blinding Sunlight' EP in 2018. Having found their ideal producer after several years of searching, they began recording demos in 2019 for what would become this album. Due to the pandemic, they were finally able to record these tracks in autumn of 2020.
"This album is rooted in the fact that I became heavily interested in '80s Marillion a few years ago, especially the 'Clutching at Straws' LP. You can definitely hear the influence on the record, but there's a lot of '80s Rush too, spiced up with contemporary influences like Muse and Radiohead. As an artist, I've always been hesitant to make records that sound the same as the previous ones I've done, so the sound keeps evolving," says Johannes Susitaival.
"I wanted to make a record that is borderline ridiculous, in some ways, and definitely not very contemporary. Then again, for the first time in my life, I had a chance to work with a producer, whose work I have admired since the turn of the millennium and this definitely influenced the album and its sound".
The 'Heat Death of the Universe' album is out as of May 21. It can be obtained directly from the band via Bandcamp, as well as the standard platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
TRACK LIST
01. The Waters
02. Strange Matter
03. Strange Stars (Lies Closer To Truth Than Beauty)
04. 139
05. Indigo Screams
06. San Francisco Skyline
07. Heat Death
CREDITS
Johannes Susitaival - vocals, drums, keyboards, rhythm guitar
Vesa Ranta - lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Tomi Laaksonen - bass guitar
Rauli Eskolin - additional keyboards, background vocals on track 6
Alexander Meaney - additional lead guitar on track 5
Kaisa Ranta - additional vocals on tracks 3 and 7, background vocals on track 6
All songs written by Johannes Susitaival, except for track 5 written by Johannes Susitaival and Mikko Maksimainen
All arrangements by Pennies by the Pound and Rauli Eskolin
Produced, recorded and mixed by Rauli "Rake" Eskolin
Recorded at E-Studio, Sipoo, Finland and Soundtrack Studio, Porvoo, Finland
Mastered by Mark Gardener in OX4 Sound Studio near Oxford
Keep up with Pennies By The Pound
Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | Apple Music | Spotify | Booking contact | Press contact
Keep up with Mark Gardener / OX4 Sound
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | OX4Sound Twitter | Mark Gardener Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Press contact
Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | LinkedIn | Email
FOR FANS OF: Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden
FOCUS TRACKS: Silent Trees, All My Wounds, Aiming For The Sun, No Real Colour In Souls, The Shell I'm Living In
FCC clean
Photos by Diego Formiga and Andressa Sarmanho, except live photos by Cezar Moraes
FOR SHARING
'No Real Colour in Souls' https://youtu.be/AvaZRt-tK-Y
'Aiming For The Sun' https://youtu.be/b486qOY2sM0
'All My Wounds' https://youtu.be/5Wc8v4AZgbE
'Silent Trees' https://youtu.be/mTJj7W3u0kk
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/68sqDKKXXs7NbONk94KVaI
Album pre-order https://pentral.lnk.to/WhatLiesAheadOfUs
Amazon pre-order https://www.amazon.com/What-Lies-Ahead-Us-Pentral/dp/B08X6TLR4M
FOR REVIEW & AIRPLAY
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/pentralmusic/sets/what-lies-ahead-of-us/s-CmBt1ZjTHK7
Online press kit https://shamelesspromotion.haulix.com/Public/View/86642
Download via Dropbox http://bit.ly/3knA7ZR
"Haunting, cavernous, mysterious, heavy and dark... Purveyors of a huge sound with a loaded message" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
"Ambitious... a pounding reality-based offering" ~ The Spill Magazine
"Quest for spiritual healing and dealing with the highs and lows of life and toxic people. It touches upon how hard is to cope with grief and loss and how rewarding it is to bounce back from rock bottom" ~ Prog Magazine
"Pentral take the listener into the Amazon, its beauty, punctuated with atmospheric sounds of nature pulled directly from the rainforest, through all the harsher elements, unveiled through the heavier deliverance of 12 pulsating tracks" ~ American Songwriter
"Fine specimen of dark and haunting metal rock, the power of which is amplified through atmospheric background vocal contributions throughout" ~ Amplify Music Magazine
"An orchestral/progressive style that is hard to attain. Beyond the progressive sound, however, is that original set of three personalities only found in the best power trios" ~ Jammerzine
Brazilian progressive rock / metal trio Pentral reveal their new single 'No Real Colour In Souls', one of the grooviest songs found on their debut long-player 'What Lies Ahead of Us', a 10-track LP with legendary producer Tim Palmer (Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie's Tin Machine, The Mission, HIM, U2, Pearl Jam) co-producing with Pentral, Sergio Fouad and Cesar Bottinha. Palmer also mixed the LP, which was mastered by Justin Shturtz (HIM, The Psychedelic Furs, Nancy Wilson, Slipnot, Tin Machine).
Hailing from Belém in northern Brazil, Pentral is made up of Victor Lima (vocals, guitars, songwriter, lyrics), Vagner Lima (drummer) and Joe Ferri (bass guitar), this album shares the tragic reality of many Amazon dwellers, whose habitat, lifestyle and livelihood are brutally taken from them, not to mention the destruction of the forest itself. Through their videos and lyrics, Pentral tells the story about this violence and pilfering of the Amazon's natural habitat.
"A rhythmic lengthy track, Vagner is brilliant on the drums and Joe on the bass guitar. This was one of the hardest tracks to sing during the recording sessions. Lot of feelings involved, and I believe I could express all this vibe to the interpretation of the song," says Victor Lima.
Earlier, Pentral released high-energy singles 'Aiming For The Sun', 'All My Wounds' and 'Silent Trees' - the sonic launching pad into a concept album reflecting on today's society, presenting the saga of a lowly couple fighting for their lives and sanity. The accompanying video sequence was filmed in their native Amazon – a dedicated saga unfolds, track by track. Directed and edited by Roger Elarrat and produced by Luana Klautau, this also involves Lucas Escócio as director of photography, this video features actors Anne Costa, Guto Galvão, Eduarda Cursino, Boris Knez and Aldo Lima.
The lyrics speak about loss. The kid and her mother are wandering around the forest as they know they have to get out and try to go on with their lives somewhere away from that place. Racism is clearly portrayed on the song as well. This is an odious plague that still chases up the human beings and that have to be confronted. It’s a quite introspective song! It resonates with the name of the band – Pentral, which means Soul. At the end of the day, this is what we really are – a Soul, before, during, and after our material existence.
Their unique take on alternative rock can be described as progressive, heavy, groovy and melodic, while the band also deliver a strong political message about what is going on in Brazil and all over the world.
Pentral stands for 'spirit' in Latin, indicative of the message this band is trying to inspire via their sound - the need to transcend this material world through the power of music, without losing connection with reality and human frailties.
Deeply influenced by their Amazon roots, Pentral's music is influenced by many global influences while also striving to honor Brazil's groove and unique harmonies, progressive rock, metal music, atmosphere and melody. This debut album sums up years of experimentation and the search for human awareness of the environment, peace and equality.
"The album 'What Lies Ahead of Us' is like a "declaration" and it was conceived way before COVID-19 came out...But it kind of fits the current reality we´re going through. This pandemic is the outcome of the unfriendly way we've been treating our environment and ourselves as well, and it served to expose our insensitivity, our lack of empathy,"says Pentral frontman Victor Lima.
"It's a story about a man and a woman who lives in the woods. The forest is invaded by a group of mercenaries (pretty common in Brazil) in order to burn the woods down and make money with that, the man is killed, the woman manages to survive and she is pregnant, then she gives birth to a girl, and They try to survive in the city, experiencing racism, violence, hunger, selfishness, indifference. The only thing they have - they love each other. So, the elements of the story - environment being destroyed, people suffering discrimination by the color of their skin, by the place where they came from, being selfish and violent for the sake of their own interests and prejudices, politics and religion abuse and extremism and the only way I believe things could be solved - the power of love. The album is like a journey of the three characters (a woman, a man, and their kid) passing through all the issues I’m talking about in the lyrics for these ten songs."
'What Lies Ahead of Us' album is out now everywhere digitally, including Apple Music and Spotify. It can be ordered via https://pentral.lnk.to/
CREDITS
All songs written by Victor Lima
Produced by Pentral and Tim Palmer
Co-produced and engineered by Sergio Fouad and Cesar Botinha
Justin Shturtz - mastering
Tim Palmer - mixing, additional guitars, percussion and keyboards
Victor Lima - vocals and guitars
Vagner Lima - drums
Joe Ferri - bass guitar
Cover artwork by Heidi Teillefer
Keep up with Pentral
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music | Press contact
Keep up with Tim Palmer
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Wikipedia | Press contact
Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | LinkedIn | Email
No comments:
Post a Comment