Minsk - The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment

Date of Release: Feb. 20, 2007

2007 CD: Relapse Records RR 6708-2 (USA)
2007 2LP: Gilead Media GLM009-1 (USA)
          180 gr. Black Vinyl, Limited Ed. 700 Copies
          180 gr. Orange/Red Vinyl, Limited Ed. 300 Copies

Ripped with Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoded with Lame 3.97 at VBR/44/JS (V0)


Tracks
01 - Embers
02 - White Wings
03 - Mescaline Sunrise
04 - The Orphans Of Piety
05 - Circle Of Ashes
06 - Ceremony Ek Statis


Christopher Bennett – Guitar, Vocals
Timothy Mead – Synthesizer
Sanford Parker – Bass, Vocals, Keyboards
Tony Wyioming – Drums

Guest Musicians:
Bruce Lamont - Saxophone (04,06)
Gladys Couri - Additional Vocals (01,06)
Taryn Parker - Additional Vocals (06)


From the preliminary notes of the opening track of The Ritual
Fires Of Abandonment, listeners will find themselves fully
mesmerized by the texturally liberal musical vision of Minsk. On
the group's debut offering for Relapse Records, Minsk has
reigned in the chaotic, subterranean sounds of its preceding
effort, Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Or Alive, instead
focusing on horizon-reaching, stream-of-consciousness sonic
interludes, propelling the listener into extraterrestrial
environment of metaphysically exploratory music. From one moment
to the next, you'll hear sweeping, sky-piercing harmonies,
swelling, dissonant reverberations and harsh, abusive tones.
Each of these aspects makes The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment an
album that swings the doors of perception wide open – and in
doing so, reveals an entirely new dimension of abstract
sonority. Such a revelation is entirely successful in
dialectically dividing the perception of the listener between
thoughtful introspection and a life-changing awareness of the
infinite possibilities the exterior world has to offer.

Sanford Parker is the man who is not only responsible for
capturing the vast sound-scapes you'll hear on The Ritual Fires
Of Abandonment, but for participating in the entire event as the
group's bassist and vocalist as well. In describing the album's
introductory track, one that resembles the sounds that an
individual might hear during the soundtrack of a Quentin
Tarantino-directed journey through the cosmos, Parker says, "It
sets the mood. The listener isn't really sure where this album
is going to go. Instead of hitting right out of the gate like on
Out Of A Center... we wanted it to build into the album like a
journey into space."

Parker and his band mates were certainly successful in their
attempt, forging bold musical initiatives that connect with the
listening subject in a manner having far-reaching emotional
implications. Parker expressed his satisfaction with the
creativity the band has managed to muster for The Ritual Fires
Of Abandonment, saying, "It's pretty tough to describe; it's
just a matter of space, and our adding what can fit into that
space. We really wanted to go nuts with counter rhythms and
melody. It's cool when it works, because the whole time it feels
like it could all fall apart at any second, it's like dancing on
a fine line. A majority of the record was written in the studio,
so it gave us a chance to experiment and try different things in
the control of the studio environment."

Being the producer of the record as well as a performer gives
Parker a unique perspective on the entire affair. His
contributions have taken heed to the mechanics of sound as well
as artistic creativity. When asked if he believes that he has
properly achieved the musical vision he had visualized for the
project, the artist commented, "I think so. Basically, we set
out to make the most progressive record we could. I will always
think 'Well, we should have done this or that, or if we just had
more time I would have tried this,' but you'll always say that.
I think it's a great representation of where the band is at this
point in time. Minsk will always grow and push ourselves to the
limits of our creativity with every record."

If you ask the accomplished studio hand what he feels is the
single-most important factor that a band could hope to bring to
the table, he'll say "An open mind! I wish bands would view
themselves as two halves, the live half and the studio half and
treat each differently. Just as every time you play live you
think, 'How can I do this better the next time?' Recording
should be the same way. Don't be afraid to experiment. You
shouldn't have to sound exactly the same way live as you do on
the album and vice versa. Listen to Jethro Tull and Uriah Heep
albums and then listen to live recordings. The songs were
drastically different and I think that's killer."

Such experimentation on the part of Minsk is evident throughout
the entire course of The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment, as
abstract musical perceptions collide head-on with deeply rooted
engagements in musical theory. The result is no less than
profound. As no one track on the new album zeroes in on any one
certain emotion, Parker remains unsure as to exactly how this
brilliantly creative music will affect fans. "I can't say what
other people will get out of it. Hopefully everyone will take a
little something different away from the experience."

Additionally, Parker is able to visualize Minsk as an ensemble
of musicians that resides outside of stereotypical perceptions
of what a modern band should be. He articulates, "I don't view
us as a guitar, bass, drums band; there's so much more to it. I
have these cool toys lying around, so why not use them? Bands in
the '70s weren't afraid to try crazy shit, so why should we be
afraid to do something different with our music? I think it adds
another dimension to the sound something you don't always get in
a live situation."

Taking on a certain admiration for other eclectic artists in
today's music scene, Parker finds camaraderie in the sounds of
many artists that are considered as the most pioneering and
progressive creative forces around. This acceptance of such a
visionary outlook toward the music of today is at the core of
the band's distinctive sonic revelation. "Bands like Mastodon,
The Mars Volta and Opeth are really pushing the envelope these
days." Parker notes, "I see our peers as being artists such as
Baroness, Torche and Rwake - it's good to see these guys taking
a more progressive outlook toward song writing. I think these
will be the bands which will in fact influence the next wave of
heavy music."

More than anything, innovation remains Parker's primary mission.
With his mind dead set on creating sonic art that will not only
be appreciated by fans old and new, the guitarist maintains,
"We're trying to create that new, 'wacky' sound. We aim for a
new way of doing something with our music. We want to go places
no one else has ever gone before."

When asked what might surprise listeners who enjoyed the group's
previous effort, the studio wizard remarked, "For one, it's less
abrasive than Out Of A Center.... It's still heavy – I think
heavier – but less abrasive. There's less noise and more music.
Instead of reaching for a distorted sample, we used an organ or
piano. Instead of screaming, we tried more soulful vocal
melodies. I think it's a natural growth for the band. Some
people will be surprised, and some won't."

Minsk places a certain emphasis on creating a lush musical
ambience on The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment. The record travels
in a variety of separate musical directions, yet as individuals,
Minsk manages to collectively hold things together in an
astonishing fashion. "It's like tripping on acid in the center
of a volcano on the Io moon of Jupiter... in other words; it's
psychedelic, heavy and completely on fire."
 -- John Gnesin (Resound Magazine)

---------------------------------------

One thing is clear about Chicago's metal four-piece Minsk almost
from the start - while their future peers spent their formative
years playing Metallica and Slayer albums to death, these guys
were probably having their minds blown by early Neurosis
records. There are indeed a lot of similarities between Minsk
and Neurosis - relatively slow tempos, thick sludgy guitar
sound, the vocalist's throaty screams, monumental song lengths.
However, Minsk are far from being mere copycats; besides sonic
similarities they also inherited Neurosis' creative restlessness
and tendency to explore all the possibilities within their
trademark sound, the very qualities that made those Oakland
titans such an influential band. The Ritual Fires Of
Abandonment, Minsk's Relapse debut, is nothing short of epic, a
one-hour journey that's alternately gripping, haunting,
mesmerizing, and intimidating. Album opener "Embers" starts
things off on a slow and mysterious note, riding a thick groove
of tribal drums, dense atmospherics, and echoing chant-like
vocals, and by the time guitars quake in, some time after the
four-minute mark, the listener is already lured into their
twisted and dangerous sonic maze. Throughout The Ritual Fires Of
Abandonment, Minsk smartly alternate between shorter, more
straightforward songs like the furious "White Wings" or "Circle
Of Ashes", and huge epic numbers which ebb and flow for more
than a dozen minutes. There's an occasional curveball, too - a
sudden oasis of calm amidst the chaos in the form of ambient
instrumental "Mescaline Sunrise", or a totally unexpected
saxophone solo popping up when colossal mid-way number "The
Orphans Of Piety" grinds to a near halt some ten minutes in.
Bandmember Sanford Parker provides production ideally suited to
the band's modus operandi - it's grand and appropriately murky
yet richly layered and detailed. There is also a strong sense of
mysticism running through the record, but not of the common
Dungeons And Dragons variety that makes musicians far above the
voting age wear strange outfits, sing songs about immortal
warriors with flaming swords, and put pictures of said warriors
(and swords) on their album covers. Rather, it's something more
somber, some menacing and darkly romantic edge that makes
Minsk's deafening rumble almost esoteric. If Dillinger Escape
Plan can be hailed as something like Radiohead for the current
crop of thinking man's metal, then in Minsk this intriguing and
multi-faceted bunch can eventually obtain their own Dead Can
Dance.
 -- Sergey Mesenov (AMG)

---------------------------------------

Minsk's last effort, Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor
Alive, staked a damn convincing claim that the Chicago-based
band were one of the most promising acts in the then burgeoning
pack of Neurosis and Isis-spawned up and comers. A few years
ago, there seemed to be quite a few promising contenders, but
it's grown suspiciously quiet since then. Meanwhile, The Ritual
Fires Of Abandonment proves that Minsk is at the very top of the
heap, especially at the heavy end of the spectrum, as mainstays
like Isis and Cult Of Luna continue to gravitate toward a more
accessible sound. Ritual Fires shows that the band is continuing
to develop its voice, and has further established their identity
by adding their own stamp to the influence of their forbears and
also moving to push both themselves and the style into new
directions. Although Out Of A Center was a quality album front
to back, and seems to be on the whole an equal to its successor,
Ritual Fires is a more balanced album. There is less reliance on
traditional rise and fall dynamics on each track, but a wider
view of the entirety of the hour-long collection shows how well
Ritual Fires flows as an album. By allowing songs to fill more
distinct roles, Minsk have crafted an album that ebbs and flows
as a near seamless work rather than as discrete tracks.

Marathon opener "Embers" signals the band's new intent,
maintaining a psychedelic "prying open my third eye/ride the
snake" haziness with faded, bleary-eyed clean vocals (clean
vocals are much more prevalant this time around) for long
stretches with minimal pushing into the expected cathartic
abrasiveness. The texture of the slurred, percussive-heavy intro
section alone sounds like radiating acid tracers. On the second
track the band leans forward onto its front foot and draws blood
with the heavy "White Wings". Despite its red herring intro,
this shorter track serves a reverse image of its predecessor,
focusing on aggression with moments of quieter, airy lucidness.
Although this type of track analysis serves the purpose of
example, in truth it amounts to nothing more than drawing lines
where none are needed. The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment is a
sprawling, deeply textured epic that demands to be consumed as
a whole. The songs end and begin again in near seamless fashion,
especially the two instrumentals ("Mescaline Sunrise" and
"Circle Of Ashes") that bookend "The Orphans Of Piety", another
of the marathon-length tracks, and the song that most closely
resembles the work of the last album.

But it's the majestic album closer (and the third of the
epic-length numbers) "Ceremony Ek Stasis", that serves as the
single best example that Minsk are evolving and, equally
exciting, that this is a band capable of creating exciting music
for a long time to come. As much as people tend to compare bands
of this ilk with Neurosis and Isis - two bands that don't sound
much alike these days - those comparisons come more from those
bands' seminal works and influence, and less often from direct
similarities. Minsk doesn't necessarily sound like either band,
yet they ably capture both ends of seemingly opposing
approaches; namely, a crushing tribal abrasiveness associated
with Neurosis and the lush, layered melodies used by Isis, and
top it off with their own progressive slant. There are wires and
circuits protruding every which way from the band's organic,
tribal musculature, as Minsk's spiritual, passionate humanness
is undergirded by a consistently radiating swirl of electronic
ambience. One of the most compelling things about this band is
the tremendous balance of their sound. No one element takes
center stage, making it easy to appreciate the collective effort
of disparate contributions of the players, but also to become
entranced by one particular element, and whether it's the
vocals, riffs, percussion, or ambience may vary from person to
person and/or from listen to listen. Half the reward of this
album is not only how the songs shift to build and climax, but
how the musicians' lines deftly converge and diverge again.

It would be remiss not to recognize the contributions of some
collaborators. Bassist/vocalist Sanford Parker, who became a
full-time band member while he was recording Out Of A Center...,
turns in another of what's becoming a lengthy list of strong
production efforts. Bruce Lamont, of fellow Chicago-based
experimentalists Yakuza again adds some great guest sax work on
"The Orphans Of Piety" and "Ceremony Ek Stasis", along with
judiciously utilized supporting vocals from Gladys Couri and
Taryn Parker. Finally, the band steps up to the plate again when
it comes to packaging, using an impressive layout from Orion
Landau. The vibrant colors and details of the artwork are a
fitting contrast to the darker, subtle approach used on Out Of A
Center.... That seems about right, and brings about to a fitting
conclusion. The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment may or may not be a
better album than Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor
Alive - it's too early to tell, and that's not really what's
important anyway. What is important is that the two albums work
very well as complements and that Minsk have birthed another
fantastic album and taken a step into a new direction that hints
at this band's impressive potential.
 -- Matt Mooring (Metal Review)

---------------------------------------

Dense. That is maybe the most appropriate way to describe The
Ritual Fires Of Abandonment by Chicago's Minsk. This album pours
layer over layer of varied musical forms and intensities,
creating a wild and challenging experience for the listener.

The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment is an album that immediately
invokes a sense of Neurosis' Enemy Of The Sun era, where probing
experimental music was the flavor of the day. That is a fair
rating of both albums, and one that puts Minsk's effort in
excellent company. There is something invigorating about the
sporadic crunch of atmospheric guitars coupled with the stripped
down, almost tribal feeling of the drumming on this album.
Again, it creates a rich landscape of sounds that one not only
enjoys but demands attention without intrusion of the enjoyment
of the music.

This is the band's second full length release, and there is no
question The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment is a member of the
Post-Rock/Post-Metal movement headed by the likes of Isis, Cult
of Luna and the aforementioned Neurosis. There are meandering
intros to songs that lead to staggeringly harsh crescendos,
accompanied by raw, throaty vocals. What separates Minsk here is
their even further reach by incorporating a female voice in a
siren-like quality along with slightly heavier synth work and
even some use of saxophones in a way that makes you think the
instrument should always be included with Metal music; wailing
through a few tracks, both in a cry and a chaotic fusion style.
Now there is most definitely a backbone of that caustic, crude
Metal; its grating guitar work creating an environment of pure
power. Minsk then are willing to take the audience to a place of
sheer restlessness invented with intermittent guitar notes and
organic percussion. This is brilliantly established in the
fourth track "The Orphans Of Piety", where a serene yet
claustrophobic instrumental period is awakened with a clean but
shimmering vocal track that solidifies as the song progresses.
One other terrific track is the meditative "Mescaline Sunrise",
incorporating a bass note with a tranquil guitar which almost
seems like a great mid-way point for the album.

It may be the case to some that the likes of Minsk are the Metal
equivalent of alternative jam bands, eschewing a more formal
musical structure for a sense of improvising. This would be a
vast underestimation of the actual organic feeling and present
ability of the band to form arrangements out of what is simply a
different approach to song composition. It is completely
exhilarating, enjoying the harsh rocking moments in The Ritual
Fires Of Abandonment, as equally as the sumptuous unorthodoxy
contained in the haunting moments on the album. This is one hell
of an album. Absolutely tremendous.
 -- Stephen Rafferty (The Metal Observer, May 25, 2007)

---------------------------------------

Scattered between the sleepy city of Peoria and metropolis of
Chicago, Illinois, and drawing inspiration from a remote
Belarusian city that has been burned to the ground only to be
rebuilt like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, Minsk is an
enigmatic collection of opposites. The music is at once modern,
organic, and other-worldly; songs are stirring sonic journeys
channeling the rhythms of the earth and the resonance of the
human voice with the synthetic sounds of machines, amplifiers,
chaos, and effects. Founded in Peoria in 2002, Minsk has been
cultivating sonic exploration and deeply spiritual and emotional
outpourings since its inception. The early years were furtive;
harboring a locally produced demo (enitled Burning and released
with the help of Lisa Falzone Recordings), a West Coast tour, an
appearance at the inaugural Templars Of Doom Festival in 2004,
and a contribution to a Peoria-themed compilation, If It Plays,
on Thinker Thought Recordings.

In early '05, while recording it's first full length (Out Of A
Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive) at Volume Studios, the
band's producer, Sanford Parker (Pelican, Unearthly Trance,
Rwake) joined on bass guitar, and the final lineup fell into
place. Out Of A Center... was released later that year on At A
Loss Recordings.

2006 saw the band touring from coast to coast in support of Out
Of A Center..., performing with acts as diverse and inspiring as
Brutal Truth, High On Fire, Boris, SUNN0))), Torche, Pig
Destroyer, Rwake, Asschaple, and Baroness. Overwhelming press
coupled with the band's work ethic and ground-shaking live shows
generated an excitement that carried over into SXSW 2006 and the
Emissions From The Monolith Festival. By mid-year, Minsk signed
with Relapse, and the sophomore full length was underway. The
Summer and Fall found the band poring over new material and
hammering out their Relapse debut, The Ritual Fires Of
Abandonment, at Volume Studios once again w/Parker at the helm.

The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment bleeds Minsk's tribal
convictions with an atmosphere of total psychedelic delirium.
Hypnotic percussion thunders beneath thickly layered guitars as
synths and samples provide a backdrop for searing melodies and
deeply spiritual vocal ruminations. The forthcoming release has
moved Minsk further into the world of the psychedelic and the
progressive. Perhaps more organic and musical than the previous
efforts, The Ritual Fires... delves deeper into sophisticated
tribal motifs, vocal melodies, and psychedelic passages. Deeply
passionate lyrical ruminations about personal struggle, mental
illness, societal and generational guilt, the suicidal urge, and
philosophical destruction and re-growth echo the sentiments of
the varying moods and textures of the hour-long journey.

The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment was released by Relapse Records
on February 20, 2007. Early touring in support of the album has
included a trip to SXSW 2007 in March, an East Coast tour with
Rwake in April, a trip to the Emissions From The Monolith
Festival in May, and a West Coast tour with Middian in May/June.
Also in the works is a split 7" of Roky Erickson covers with
labelmates Unearthly Trance. March of 2008 will bring about a
tour of the US Southeast with Zoroaster, with more '08 plans to
be announced shortly.
 -- Minsk Homepage