Premiere: Stone Healer – Until My Will is Gone
Come on in and heal your stones.
When I was a metal child back in early 2016, I stumbled upon this duo while listening to a PR sampler and was blown away. He Who Rides Immolated Horses quickly became one of my favorite releases of the year with its unpredictable progressive death blend. The dissonant riff salad, clean melodies, unrelenting blast beats, and myriad raw vocal stylings had me hooked. Years and dozens of plays later, the riff that kicks in the chorus of “Lark’s Head” still gives me chills.
Nearly 6 years after their debut EP, the Kaminsky brothers are back with the first LP, Conquistador, and I am thrilled to premiere “Until My Will is Gone”. Here’s what Dave had to say about this track:
“Until My Will Is Gone” is the most personally meaningful song on the album to me. Not only that, but I think it’s the most emotionally intense piece of music I’ve ever written. With this song I wanted to convey the absolutely terrifying level of existential anguish that I experienced every waking moment during the most difficult years of my life. If the music itself doesn’t articulate this in accessible enough terms, I believe the lyrics and vocal delivery lay it all on the table. Even now when I hear this song or read my lyrics back, I am brought to tears every time, without fail. This pain is cathartic to me, and this song serves me as a lifelong reminder of the otherworldly horror that I endured.
You can absolutely feel the emotion bursting out, laid bare in the opening crooned lyrics which are amplified by his most furious growls a moment later. The false ending opens the door to even more genre exploration, with a little post-rock vibe that grows back into a slowed-down version of their usual prog death groove.
As for the rest of the Conquistador, expect a lot more leaning into the Alice in Chains influence, and as a guy with almost no opinions about that band, it ends up working unexpectedly well. Within the span of 30 seconds, you’ll frequently merge from alt-rock into Ulcerate and the path to get there is like nothing else I’ve ever encountered. The drums are once again a highlight; the rhythms are always pushed to their limit, never just existing as a backbone to the angular riffs that somehow keep up the pace.
Conquistador is out April 30, pre-order on Bandcamp. It’s very good.
