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Acheron

King Buffalo

Acheron

Label: Stickman

Genre: Rock / Pop

Availability

  • CD Digi / Cardboard €12.99
    In Stock
What will inevitably be known as ‘the cave record,’ Acheron is the second King Buffalo LP recorded in 2021. It follows this spring's The Burden of Restlessness and finds the Rochester, New York, trio of guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson expanding their sound once again. Both records – and an intended third in the series to follow in 2022 – were born of the pandemic-era touring shutdown, as evinced by the grim themes of The Burden of Restlessness. Acheron – named for the “river of woe” in Greek mythology – brings the tension and disquiet of the prior offering into a new context. To put the four extended songs of Acheron to tape, the band traveled three hours east from Rochester to Howe Caverns in NY, recording with trusted engineer Grant Husselman and videographer Adam Antalek – who worked on their Quarantine Sessions early in 2020 – to document a day-long live session in a cave. “Underground” in the most literal sense. In sound, Acheron is likewise spacious and fluid. If The Burden of Restlessness showed the band's sharper angles, Acheron adds complexity to the shape of the whole. In some ways, the wash of tone in “Zephyr” will be familiar to those who took on 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain or the band’s 2016 debut, Orion – let alone any of the four EPs they’ve done along the way – but in “Shadows” and “Cerberus,” the band’s intent becomes clear. The tracks on King Buffalo's new output are not just isolated songs from a single writing period which frame a different side of their style. They tell a story as much about their sonic growth as about that time they loaded all their gear into a cave (no easy feat) and hit record. Acheron pushes forward from The Burden of Restlessness, which - still just months old - was received by fans as an immediate album-of-the-year contender. It takes the communion with and contemplation of the organic that’s been so much a part of who King Buffalo were before and uses it to inform who they’ve become, are still becoming.