New album, “Ónkos”, out on October 31st!
ónkos (ὄγκος)
– tumor
– mass, weight, burden
– a topknot worn on the mask in ancient Greek tragedy
Seven years on from Phobiate, and following a prolonged three-plus-year production period haunted by personal unrest, we bring you Binah’s third album, Ónkos. Divided into two side-long acts, Ónkos takes a deep dive into the processes of illness, loss, and some of what is left (and sometimes exacerbated) in their wake. It is the result of a raw attempt to capture, verbalize, and make sense of these themes almost in realtime. The album was once again recorded by the band, engineered by Aort with input from I.R.G., and illustrated by Jaume Mayans. An honorable mention goes to A. Carrier, who, after a decade of battering service, has vacated the stool to pursue his personal projects. On this new adventure, Binah are joined by old comrade Storm (Thine, My Dying Bride, Blasphemer, Bal Sagoth, and many others). Having already performed onstage 16 years ago in Germany as part of Code’s one-off 2008 live lineup, this album marks their first recording together.
Chronologically part of the so-called second “Old-School Death Metal’ wave of the early 2010s, Binah’s choice to stay away from live performance has allowed for an intense, single-minded focus on each release as an enduring piece of quality work. Having worked with some of the leading labels in the style (Osmose, Dark Descent, Me Saco Un Ojo), each Binah release has yielded highly receptive feedback from media channels both printed and digital, and wide acclaim among death metal maniacs. With members involved, over the years, in acts such as Code, Hexvessel, Indesinence, Esoteric, Thine, My Dying Bride, Pantheist, Axis of Perdition, Bal Sagoth, and others, the band accrues decades of experience while occupying its own musical headspace.
Ónkos offers a strong conceptual focus and a re-thought sense of structure, with two side-length pieces harking back to the epic trips by some of the more experimental underground names of the early-to-mid ’90s (Timeghoul, Pan-Thy-Monium, etc). Stunning original artwork once again provided by renowned graphic artist Jaume Mayans, with layout by long-standing associate Pino Fabelo. Sonics and visuals carefully integrate to produce Binah’s hardest-hitting and most immersive work yet.
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