Earlier this summer BELL WITCH and AERIAL RUIN released their highly acclaimed collaborative album, Stygian Bough Volume I. This week AERIAL RUIN’s Erik Moggridge has revealed two acoustic performance videos which feature excerpts from the album. The Bastard Wind debuted via CVLT Nation and Heaven Torn Low I (the passage) debuted via Rock Hard Germany. The two acoustic versions are streaming now via YouTube below. Stygian Bough Volume Iis available to purchase here.
Watch & Share: The Bastard Wind (excerpt, Aerial Ruin acoustic version)
Watch & Share: Heaven Torn Low I (the passage) (excerpt, Aerial Ruin acoustic version)
On Stygian Bough Volume I, renowned doom duo BELL WITCH (Dylan Desmond and Jesse Shreibman) fully integrated themselves with dark folk elegist, AERIAL RUIN (Erik Moggridge) for a collection of five transcendent songs that defy categorization. Of these acoustic performances, Moggridge comments:
"These are simple videos of yours truly at home filmed/recorded with my intelligent-phone. While I have made videos like this for my Aerial Ruin only material, the format felt different when using it for my collaborative work with Bell Witch and it’s been interesting to channel Stygian Bough songs through this lens."
While Moggridge has been a part of BELL WITCH's sonic fingerprint on all their prior records, perhaps most notably for his vocals on their previous acclaimed full-length, Mirror Reaper, he’s now part of the very fabric that make up the striking and visceral songs that comprise Stygian Bough Volume I. The album was described by Metal Hammer magazine as "A near-perfect crossover of bleak funeral sludge and gothic loner-folk", whilst Blabbermouth declared it to be the “doom metal album of the year”.
Whilst live activities are on hold for now, stay tuned for further updates from the trio in the coming weeks and months.
Stygian Bough Volume I - track list:
1. The Bastard Wind
2. Heaven Torn Low I (the passage)
3. Heaven Torn Low II (the toll)
4. Prelude
5. The Unbodied Air