TAR POND

New album, “Petrol”, out on September 15th!

The blues legend claims that the devil waits for those wanting to sell their souls at the crossroads. “PETROL”, the second full length of Swiss doom visionaries TAR POND is very much born from such a convergence – but one where more than three dimensions meet. On a temporal level, “PETROL” connects the past, present, and future of the band, and the album’s conception even transcends life and death.
Although “PETROL” is clearly drawing inspiration from US doom classics such as SAINT VITUS as way as going all the way back to the British roots embodied by BLACK SABBATH, there are also moments that connect TAR POND with contemporary doom acts such as ELECTRIC WIZARD and ACID BATH. At the same time, TAR POND also exemplify the stubborn streak of Swiss metal that displays a fierce individuality and creative independence as outstanding acts such as CELTIC FROST, CORONER, and ZEAL & ARDOR easily attest.
Going back to the crossroads of time, everything seemed to change when Martin Ain, bass player of the iconic CELTIC FROST and one of the founding members of TAR POND passed away in October 2017. Before this tragic day, the Swiss legend had already recorded the debut album together with the other founding members, the former CORONER drummer and lyricist Marky Edelmann, and the renowned scratchboard artist and vocalist Thomas Ott.
Entitled “Protocol of Constant Sadness”, the debut was originally written and recorded in 2016/17 under the guidance of producer and guitar-legend Tommy Vetterli of CORONER fame. Composer Alain Kupper, who wrote several songs for TAR POND also contributed guitar tracks for “Protocol of Constant Sadness”. After the shock began to fade and a long time of intense deliberation, the Swiss decided to continue as a band with Monika Schori taking over as bass player.
The Swiss also began to perform live, which at first led to two sold-out release shows at Zurich’s legendary porn cinema Kino Roland. Inspired by the enthusiastic reception for their debut, TAR POND also began working on new songs. Again, the Swiss came to a point where several roads crossed. Alain Kupper decided to leave the band, but he left material for at least three new songs for “PETROL”. Then Daniele Merico joined TAR POND on second guitar while the band was finishing the writing process during the next months.
TAR POND decided to continue the successful collaboration of their debut and recorded “PETROL” with Tommy Vetterli at the New Sound Studio. After some shows, Monika Schori left the band in 2022 and was replaced by Chris Perez. This led to a second recording session at New Sound Studio in order to add one more song with a contribution of the new bass player. As a result, “PETROL” is a collaboration of old and new band members throughout different times. Under these circumstances, it is quite remarkable that the album despite all of this appears to be coherent and focused.
When TAR POND were conceived, the band’s declared aim was to deliver a soundtrack of brutality and an electric protocol of constant sadness, which the Swiss filed under the description ‘Doom’n’Gloom’ that has also been described as a combination of doom and post-metal.
With “PETROL”, TAR POND fulfil their original promise: this album is a beautiful soundtrack of darkness and sorrow.

06 20 Tar Pond