The Chilean melodic doom metal band Wooden Veins, whose members are now mostly based in European countries, made an auspicious full-length debut with their well-received 2021 album In Finitude. There, the band crafted beautifully produced music that pulled from deep wells of sorrow and gained strength from the deep, rich singing voice of frontman Javier Cerda.
Now Wooden Veins are returning with a follow-up album named Imploding Waves, which will be released on June 23rd by Ardua Music. Beginning last year the band started disclosing singles from the new album. So far, three songs have surfaced with videos, and today we present a fourth one — “Ganymede“.
Collectively, these songs demonstrate that Imploding Waves expands on the songwriting evident on In Finitude, adding progressive and gothic elements and overall providing a more elaborate, more dynamic, and ultimately more memorable experience.
Wooden Veins present the album, and this newest single, through these words:
“It’s about dreams, death and change, the mixture of these elements and their manifestation in ourselves and the world around us.”
“We are preparing for the release of our second album Imploding Waves and we want to share with you our 4th single ‘Ganymede’. A song that is somehow deeper than the previous ones, giving signs of our doom roots, where we take the slowest and most leisurely rhythms for a synesthetic journey, accompanied by the astral poetry of life itself.
“Being Gamynede the largest moon in the solar system that could possibly harbour life, the idea behind the song is for this moon to be a representation of a place for a new start, the promise of change and possibility to leave everything behind when there is nothing left to lose.”
As the band forecast in that quote, “Ganymede” is nourished by doom roots, but it also connects with the song’s metaphor of a Jupiterian moon as a place for new life. The mysterious glimmering tones that introduce the song create futuristic astral imaginings, but as they swell in eerie splendor the musing notes of the bass and the slow punch of the drums gradually make it a heavier and more head-moving experience.
Wooden Veins‘ music is obviously an exception to the porous rule in our site’s name, and Javier Cerda‘s silken and soulful voice earns the exception, and in this song also creates connections to gothic music. It too sounds mysterious and unearthly, deepening the spell that the song creates. And the song does indeed cast a powerfully seductive spell, made more interesting by the electrifying drum patterns and the sprightly keys.
Yet periodically, and especially at the end, Wooden Veins dial up the music’s intensity and its feeling of melancholy, with Cerda‘s voice soaring into falsetto, the drums and the keys becoming faster, and the song as a whole reaching up and out… “ascending to Ganymede / the last great journey.”
WOODEN VEINS is:
Javier Cerda – Vocals
Juan Escobar – Guitar
Eduardo Poblete – Keys
Juan Diaz – Bass
Alberto Atalah – Drums
Imploding Waves again features stunning cover art by French artist Valnoir from Metastazis. It was recorded in Chile, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Germany. It was mixed by Juan Escobar at Vultura Studio in Plzen, CZ and mastered by Sebastian Puente at Audiocustom, CL.
For pre-orders and more info about the album and the band, check the links below. And below you will also find videos for the new album’s previous singles — “Tearing Seas“, “Broken World“, and “Skies” — which reveal further facets of the music on Imploding Waves.
PRE-ORDER:
https://arduamusic.bandcamp.com/album/imploding-waves
https://www.arduamusic.com/
WOODEN VEINS:
https://www.facebook.com/woodenveinsband
https://www.instagram.com/woodenveins
https://woodenveins.bandcamp.com