BÖLZER: “I AM III”

When I learned yesterday that Bölzer intended to release a new song today, I had a text discussion with DGR about where the song would premiere. We bandied about the names of certain very large online music sites who in well-calculated fashion sprinkle a few bits of extremity into their large stew of not-metal dreck… as DGR put it, sites that have “massive reach, but massive reach to deaf ears” when it comes to music like this. We had that discussion because Bölzer has become such a critical darling (on the strength of very few songs) that it wouldn’t be surprising to see their new track pop up on one of those behemoth sites, even if only .01% of their readers ever bother to listen to music like this.

We should have known better. None of that happened. Bölzer instead released the song straight to Soundcloud, relying on word of mouth to spread it around. The song is “I AM III“, it comes from the band’s forthcoming album Hero, and it’s hellishly good.

Photo by Marcin Pawłowski

The song is more than 10 minutes long… and the time flies by, leaving a hunger for more. It begins with slow, clean, beautiful vocals against a shimmering ambient melody — and then the deep, grinding, distinctively Bölzer-ian riffing and tumbling drums come in, along with a pealing lead guitar melody that sounds like an alien trumpet fanfare. As the pace increases, KzR‘s voice rises to the heavens, where you can imagine that a blazing shower of meteors appears in response to the appeal.

The music is dramatic, majestic, dark, brooding, esoteric, and triumphant. It manifests much of what has made Bölzer’s music so immediately identifiable, but perhaps an extension of the sound into even more complex and dynamic territories. In a word… fantastic. In two more words, utterly enthralling.

Hero will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on November 25. Here’s the track list:

1. Urdr
2. The Archer
3. Hero
4. Phosphor
5. Decima
6. I Am III
7. Spiritual Athleticism
8. Chlorophyllia
9. Atropos

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