Antarticus

In the eyes of many, prog music is almost synonymous these days with technical wankery, pointless time signature changes and snobby attitudes. Prog bands can be accused of trying too hard, but also of being too formulaic. For a young, hungry band from the Great White North, crafting a record that pays homage to the giants of ‘70s prog, while still propelling the genre forward, looks like a nearly impossible feat.
Dispelling all pretension, Canadian progressive rockers Antarticus have managed to deliver a prog album that still stands on its own as a straight up rock record as well. While Antarticus’ self-titled debut album is definitely prog, it’s hard to really put the band in any box. Stoner and doom elements find their way into each song, building on the progressive foundations, and while Antarticus proudly show their influences in their song-writing, the distinct playing style of each member makes the final product sound only like Antarticus.
The album opens with the instrumental Crystal Cavern, featuring a chilling synth tone that starts a buildup the listener knows right away will culminate in something loud and heavy. After a nail-biting minute and a half, the intro gives way to the instantly memorable riff of ‘Loc-Nar I (Den of Earth).’ The opening track sets the tone for the album, while being one of its several highlights. The Heavy Metal-inspired lyrics add a visual concept to the song, with the instrumentation complimenting and adding to the theme.
By the end of ‘Loc-Nar,’ the record is firmly on the ground and running. The momentum is kept up as the meaty bass intro of ‘Wöld War,’ kicks in. Another song with a notable riff, it’s the driving bass on this track that keeps the tune’s energy on full-blast through its sing-along worthy verses and choruses, as well as its guitar solo-boasting midsection. Something must be said for the guitar solos—guitarist Addam Parsons has crafted a recognizable soloing style that couldn’t be confused with anyone else’s playing.
Another highlight of the album is the song ‘Lord of the Change.’ Though it was a last-minute addition to the record, it stands out for its excellent-for-headbanging pace, heavy riffage and most of all, its perfectly blended vocal harmonies. Towards the end of the track, drummer Dustin Parsons is given a moment to shine, his beats intricate, unpredictable and pounding all at once. The combination of heavy bass and weighty guitar playing leaves no room for a second guitar or any backing tracks. Antarticus truly exemplifies the definition of a power trio.
The sci-fi-tinged ‘Cosmic Exile’ brings down the tempo after three hard-hitting songs in a row, allowing some of the elaborate parts to be more noticeable. Its spacey feel adds a different depth and a change of pace from the previous songs. This starts off the three-song closing stretch of the album, comprised of longer, epic tracks. The stoner rock elements on Antarticus are at their peak on ‘Cosmic Exile,’ before the intensity of the all-out prog ‘Curse of Kings’ takes over.
The last two songs on the album, each over 10 minutes in length, bring this roller coaster of a record to its ultimate climax. ‘Curse of Kings’ displays an impressive array of exceptional musicianship, and manages to sound decades old yet new and fresh at the same time. It could be called a timeless song, and in the future is likely be considered one by old-school and new-school fans alike. The last two songs also heavily feature synths, played by bassist and singer Mack Smith. On ‘Curse of Kings,’ the guitar and bass are each given long solo passages capable of sending listeners into a daze. The 10 minutes of music feels like a complete journey, from a beginning to a resolution.
The most epic song of all, ‘Stoneburner’ is saved for last on the record. The fantasy-fueled three-part song is once again driven by Smith’s synths, playing dual leads with the guitar, as well as the bass parts. The opening segment, ‘Battlefield,’ creates a scene with its heroic sound, and shows the melodic playing these young musicians are capable of. After a voice box solo, the battle-like clang dies down and gives way to another synth melody, starting off the catchy yet no less epic ‘Visions of Beyond.’ The vocals carry this section as the instrumentals revolve mainly around the synth part, the guitar and drums building off of it as it repeats. After what is possibly the most impressive guitar solo on the record, the heaviness dies down once again, and this time it is the bass that begins a buildup that leads to the final segment of the song, ‘The Black Swordsman.’ These last three minutes of ‘StoneBurner’ see Antarticus reach its heights of progressiveness, completing the story arc of this larger-than-life track. Its frantic outro and climactic ending leave a sense of completeness, as if there is no area left unexplored by the entire album.
One other aspect worth mentioning is the state-of-the-art sounding production throughout the whole record. Any listener will be able to hear Antarticus exactly as the musicians play live. The booming drums, crisp guitar tones and sheer heaviness have all been perfectly captured by sound engineer Jim Holland. All in all, Antarticus is a stunning debut album and one that’s worth listening to, again and again and again. - Manus Hopkins

Antarticus are a trio that hail from the Great White North (Whitehorse Yukon), their debut full length album is bookended by two simmering 80's synth reminiscent of synthwave, Crystal Caravan the intro builds like a Vangelis number. The rest of the album that sits in the middle is full of chunky stoner riffage as this three piece lock in for heavy grooves and jazz improvisations. To my critical ear Antarticus sound like a fusion of The Sword and Mastodon with songs such as Wöld War having a Sabbath-like swagger that grows, like many of their songs, into cascading guitar solos. Holding down the rhythm are Dustin Parsons (drums) and Mack Smith, who not only plays bass, but also sings and gives the synths, while Addam Parsons has some exploratory guitar playing mainly on the psychedelic Cosmic Exile. As Stoneburner's electronics fade into memory like a replicant in the rain, Antarticus is a very strong debut release from these Yukon natives. 7/10 - Musipedia of Metal

This progressive stoner rock band (and yes, it's Antarticus rather than Antarcticus for no reason I can provide) from the 'Great White North' of the Yukon territory of Canada has an intriguing set of influences but they aren't always the ones we might expect for a Canadian prog rock power trio.

Sure, Loc-Nar I (Den of Earth) demonstrates the Rush influences that had to be in here somewhere, but mostly in the transitions between sections. Elsewhere, it's more traditional seventies rock with some oddly modern vocals at points. There's a vocal escalation late in the song that sounds a little Rage Against the Machine and the responses in the chorus almost sound like nu metal shoutbacks. Remember when Evanescence stole Lacuna Coil's sound and added trendy shoutbacks in the chorus of Bring Me to Life? Well, imagine if that wasn't annoying.

Wöld War is a more overtly stoner rock track with the inevitable Black Sabbath influence apparent. However, it's less directly taken from Sabbath here and more filtered through Cathedral, not only because of the vocals, which are unrefined but delivered with real enthusiasm. The choruses and faster sections sound very Cathedral.

Lord of the Change has similarities but the delightfully active bass of Mack Smith betrays how much Budgie enter into the equation. At points, I was trying to figure out if he was more trying to be Burke Shelley or Hawkwind era Lemmy. As the title suggests, Cosmic Exile tries to answer that question and it ramps up the Hawkwind space rock vibe that came in on Lord of the Change.

The keyboards evident in the intro that is Crystal Cavern return for Curse of Kings and here's where the album becomes most interesting. Thus far, it and the songs in it have felt very short. The first five do take up eighteen minutes between them but they race past as if they were only ten. Here is the point where Antarticus decide that it's time for a track that runs ten minutes on its own. Well, two of them, because Stoneburner does the same.

Once past the keyboards, Curse of Kings sounds retro-futuristic, in that it feels like they're a band from 1978 who are trying to imagine what 1982 might sound like. There's some Iron Maiden and Diamond Head in here too, though it ends up firmly in an early Sabbath jam. Stoneburner remains very NWOBHM, but it also surprises with what sounds like a talk box, the sort that Peter Frampton made famous on Frampton Comes Alive.

The greater song length works well here, giving the band room to really breathe. Suddenly the earlier four tracks (I'll ignore the intro) start to feel like ideas that will later be developed into longer songs.

This is so unrelentingly unfashionable that I simply have to stand up and applaud. This is Antarticus's debut album and there's a real rawness to the production that suggests that they recorded this in one take and on primitive equipment. I don't mean that it's bad production (though I have to point out that Stoneburner is oddly quieter than the rest of the album), because it's admirably clear, but it has a vibrancy that usually comes from albums that were recorded live in a studio on four track or eight track desks. Think the first two Sabbath albums but clearer. This sounded less like an album to me and more like a live set the band delivered on my desk for an audience of one.

This is the best unfashionable album from 1978 that I've ever heard which wasn't recorded in 1978. As far as I know.
By Hal C. F. Astell at January 30, 2019
Labels: 2019, Canada, progressive rock - Apocalypse Later

El debut de los canadienses ANTARTICUS es toda una coctelera de sonidos con un resultado sorprendente. La banda fusiona las vibraciones de la vieja escuela herederas de sus paisanos RUSH para añadirle dosis de vibraciones cercanas a Rage Again The Machine, agitándolas con arenosos ecos desérticos que se complementan con unas gotas de retro-rock bajo una base progresiva en la que no faltan condimentos psicotrópicos, en una combinación imposible que resulta de los más sabrosa. Creando una paleta sonora única llena de riffs con vocación proto-metal, melodías, improvisaciones y sintetizadores de los 80 que por momentos coquetean con momentos A.O.R.

Los espacios psico-progresivos con teclados envolventes nos introducen en misteriosas atmósferas llenas de magnetismo a modo de introducción en “Crystal cavern”. Todo un espejismo escuchando los primeros acordes de “Loc​-​Nar I (Den of Earth)”. Hard stonerizado con voces heavy-rock con pegadizos estribillos y coros con si de los mismísimos Maiden se cruzaran con Faith No More, Una cadencia repetitiva que se agota bajando las revoluciones a espacios psicodélicos en los que demuestran la calidad y técnica de su guitarrista, así como el buen trabajo del bajo. Efectos sobrevolando con voces inquietantes, que acaban cogiendo fuerzas para darnos una buena embestida de riffs con coros de vocación punk, constituyen un plato apetitoso y variado.

EL hipnótico bajo de tintes retro que abre “World war”, se transformando en riffs stoner con mucho efecto fuzz y acidez en voces enrabietadas. Subiendo y bajando revoluciones, la banda suena con una nitidez tal, que no sabes que instrumento seguir. Siempre bajo unos riffs que pondrán a prueba nuestras cervicales.

Los sonidos más arenosos aparecen cegadores en “Lord of the change”. rock alternativo que parte de postulados de finales de los ochenta para fusionarse con ecos del siglo XXI.

Cuando al principio hablaba de una coctelera, no estaba elucubrando. “Cosmic exile” nos hace corroborar que los ingredientes de “ANTARTICUS”, son de lo más variopintos. Humeante, y con herencia proto-metal. Psicotrópicos y humeantes, los riffs de las guitarras nos llevan más allá sin anestesiarnos por completo, creando un estado de inconsciencia en la mente, mientras nuestro cuerpo se mantiene consciente y activo, creando un tema lleno de magnetismo en el que las guitarras aúllan cual lobo ante la luna llena.

La apuesta progresiva queda patente en temas de una duración mayor como los de diez minutos de “Curse of king” o “Stonburner”. Es aquí donde la banda experimenta con los teclados para ofrecernos atmósferas psico-progresivas, con finos y elegantes solos de guitarra que van descendiendo a prados más apacibles en los que las adormideras nos aturden con sus fragancias. con una técnica envidiable van haciendo ondular el corte, para regresar a intensos momentos de psicodelia más profunda. Caminando por terrenos más puramente heavy-psych acaban intoxicándose a sí mismos con vientos retro procedentes del los pioneros del proto-metal de los setenta por el que acaban siendo aducidos. Partiendo de la misma premisa, “Stonburner”, y sus teclados son el punto de partida hacia otro viaje con destino indefinido,. Hipnóticos y atractivos, la innata herencia progresiva de los ochenta se va combinando con momento de hard-psych. voces que parte de otras resonancias, ponen color a un tema que se despeña por suave laderas en las que los sintetizadores nos devuelvan a los años ochenta, y al sonido cercano a postulados A.O.R. Un nuevo espejismo momentáneo con unas voces y estribillos algo ahogados pero que acaban conquistándonos. Una amplia gama de colores es utilizada para crean un cuadro sonoro lleno de color y luminosidad entre la umbría de algunos momentos. fuera que cualquier estándar musical contemporáneo estamos ante un trabajo en el que seguidores de distintos estilos musicales van a encontrar su propia veta. Una gema que para poder extraer, debemos de escarbar en su interior para lograr el ansiado tesoro, que sin duda lo encontraremos. El giro argumental provocado por el bajo, nos devuelve a momentos retro-stoner con sutiles y finas pinceladas Sabbath. Unos temas terapéuticos que pueden hacer cambiar nuestro estado de ánimo en segundos. Un destacable y original trabajo cuya versatilidad hace que sea muy recomendable su escucha en profundidad. - Denpa Fuzz