A soothsayer is a seer, a speaker of truths enabled by visions, an oracle enabled by magic, but perhaps just as likely to be ignored as to be believed. Soothsayer is also the name chosen by an Irish quintet whose visions are very much rooted in the desperate reality of the here and now, but who defiantly refuse to succumb. Their music, as represented in what we’ve heard so far from their forthcoming debut album, is harrowing in the extreme, and also transportive. It’s not “easy listening” by any stretch, but it makes such a transfixing and mind-bending impact that it’s very hard to forget, no matter how unreal and disturbing it can become.

This debut full-length, which follows a small handful of excellent short releases (for which we’ve done premieres in the past), is named Echoes of the Earth. It will be forthcoming from Transcending Obscurity Records. The first two tracks bear the names “Fringe” and “Outer Fringe“, and we’re presenting them to you today for the first time, accompanied by a video prepared by Irish drone artist Ruairi O’Baoighill that enhances the mind-altering impact of the sounds. Continue reading »

Sixteen-minute songs present a challenge for bands who compose them, because they present a challenge for listeners. Long attention spans are not exactly a hallmark of modern culture or society. But when a band succeed in holding their listeners’ attention for songs of such length, the experience can be even more rewarding than songs of more conventional duration. And that’s what the Irish band Soothsayer have done on the song we’re about to premiere for you. Its name is “Umpire” and it appears on Soothsayer’s new album At This Great Depth, which will be released on December 30 by Transcending Obscurity Records.

This is the band’s second release, following their 2015 debut The Soothsayer. It consists of two songs, of which “Umpire” is the first; the second, which is not as long, is “Locusts and Moths”. Continue reading »