OATH OF CRANES, the new band from ex-CELTIC FROST drummer Franco Sesa and ex-CELTIC FROST guitarist Erol Ünala, turn Doom Metal on its head. The band has unveiled their new single “Puja (Celebrate Τhe Negation Οf Hope)”, taken from forthcoming debut album “The Unsung Mantras”, to be released 21st April via Klang Machine Records.
Franco Sesa combines his passion for eastern traditional music — particularly the mantra chants of Tibetan monks — with his love for Hard Rock to create a genuinely innovative wall of sound.
Starting off with the calm, yet uncanny ring of a meditation gong before hitting the listener in the face with Sesa’s hard-hitting drums, “Puja” is a goosebump-inducing demonstration of the incredible energy created by combining walls of distorted guitars with bagpipe-evoking Tibetan horns, guttural chants, and the despairing voice of vocalist Fabrizio Merico.
Sesa comments: “Celebrate the negation of hope. The act of hope should only be performed for a limited time. If the other person is not receptive, for whatever reason, the exercise should be discontinued. Inability is innocence. You should then put your energy to better use. Otherwise, there is a danger of hostility on the part of the one you hope for, with the aim of incomprehension through inability. Not necessarily out of malice. Let it go and move on. Invest in yourself.
As the Mantra says:
From the unreal lead me to the real.
From the darkness lead me to the light.
From death lead me to immortality.”
The songs on “The Unsung Mantras” are dark and disturbing, yet beautiful and healing: traditional instruments and sounds from Asian heritage and cultures with shamanic roots, including singing bowls, horns and Tibetan monks’ chants, support the powerful and innovative Μetal celebrated on the album. The result vividly underscores the album’s Daoism-inspired concept and the band’s broader cultural influences, such as the choice of Sanskrit for song titles, imagery inspired by the Sadhu tradition, and the tribute to the uplifting virtues described by the iconography of Hindu deities. The Oath Of the Cranes is a promise: good death follows a good life.
The record was produced by OATH OF CRANES, engineered at Switzerland’s New Sound Studio by Tommy Vetterli (CORONER, ELUVEITIE, CELLAR DARLING & more), and mastered at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios by Tony Lindgren (SEPULTURA, KREATOR, WITCHCRAFT & more).
“The Unsung Mantras” track listing:
Disc 1
Side A
- Intro (Purification & Benediction)
- Jivara (The Great Fever)
- Rudra (The Superior Proposal)
Side B - Yama (Sacrifice of Introspection)
- Puja (Celebrate the Negation of Hope)
Disc 2
Side A
- Akasha (Everything Holy Is Profane)
- Kali (The Infinite Cycle of Transformation)
Side B - Sannyasi Mantra (Elegy of the Enlightened)
You can watch the official music video for “Puja (Celebrate Τhe Negation Οf Hope)” below:
