Photo: Stormy Summer Photography
Fort Collins, Colorado-based alternative rock outfit Race to Neptune introduces their debut long player, The Dead Sea Sounds. The album’s release show is scheduled for August 19 at The Coast in Fort Collins.
Talking about the album, the band says, “Our first full-length album, ‘The Dead Sea Sounds,’ is a collaborative effort and most of the songs were written during Covid. Overall, it touches consistently on the themes of isolation, fear, the unknown, hope, death, and rebirth. It’s also a play on words, ‘The Dead See Sounds’ alluding to different planes, beings, and realms of existence that surround us. The water/ocean backdrop is also a reoccurring setting in the songs to not only give the listener a mental image with the lyrics but also set a tone and vibe musically. It’s diverse and uniquely showcases a lot of the different styles of music we are influenced by that span across many different eras and decades.”
The Dead Sea Sounds was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Glenn Sawyer and Rich Veltrop at Spot Studios. Race to Neptune’s sound merges elements of psych-rock, new wave, post-punk, alt-rock, and grunge.
Comprising 11-tracks, the album begins with “Song of the Siren,” opening on grungy guitars exuding swirling psych-rock colors, and then flowing into a dark, rumbling rhythm, followed by ramping up to growling guitars topped by tight, evocative vocals.
Speaking subjectively, entry points include “Weightless Arrival,” vaguely reminiscent of Soundgarden crossed with Uriah Heep, tripping on lysergic substances. Grating guitars and finessed percussion imbue the tune with edgy textures.
Hints of psychedelic surf-rock blend with alt-rock heft to infuse “Settle In” with muscular pushing motion, highlighted by a searing guitar solo. While the intro to “Tear It Out” travels on reedy, retro-flavored guitars and then mousses up to a throbbing bassline accompanied by grinding guitars. This track pumps out aggressive washes of superb energy.
“Like a Fairytale” shifts the feel and flow of the album, introducing hazy, layered guitars along with shimmering interludes, soft and iridescent.
The Dead Sea Sounds is impressive, ranging from brawny grunge rock to hallucinogenic alt-rock laced with suggestions of prog-rock.
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