TRANSILIENCE

TRANSILIENCE

Transilience! Does that sound familiar to you? Maybe it’s just the word, an unusual one which means “an abrupt change or variation”, or maybe you were paying proper attention – or you are a good investigator of the underground! - way back then in the late 80s during their first incarnation. In 1989, an unsuspecting trio of teenage Watchtower fans managed to balance their way through high school with the recording of a remarkably unique album that’s long become a cult classic within the proggier, more out-there sections of thrash. ‘Mouthful Of Buildings’ nearly out-Voivoded the kinds of weird thrash themselves, predating so many other bands since hailed as revolutionary and laying down one of the true pillars for dissonant, wildly experimental and dazzlingly technical heavy music.

Unfortunately, this was a bit too much, a bit too soon for these Reston, VA (a suburb of Washington D.C.) kids, whose musical and artistic tastes were drastically changing and evolving, as they do when you’re that age. University, various artistic activities and basically life itself kept happening, and Transilience was abandoned for pastures new. Main man Spooky, the vocalist/guitarist, turned into Spookey Ruben the weirdo pop artist you are certainly familiar with, and throughout his solo career more than a few hints of his metal past are entirely apparent. Do check out ‘Mechanical Royalty’, for instance – a seven-chapter, sixteen minute prog metal epic opus, for good measure!

After a failed attempt to get the original band back together about a decade ago – “we were all living in different cities, it just didn’t make sense,” Spookey explains –, the frontman was involved in the 30 year anniversary show of the ‘Jam 4 Man’ benefit concert series in 2019, where a new band was formed for the occasion, with, crucially, Jerry Barrett (an old school mate) on bass and another drummer. Right there, the connection between the pair was evident, but it was only another year later, when Jerry moved to L.A. – where Spookey has been based for a long time – and the two started jamming almost immediately. After finding Omar Ruiz, in Spookey’s words “the perfect drummer for us,” the puzzle was complete, and this line-up has now become the new Transilience.

The next step? New music, of course. Shortly after their announcement about having signed to Alone Records, their comeback record, a four-track EP called 'Nervesaw', was revealed. You can acquire it here in our shop.

The first single off 'Nervesaw' is for the song ‘Seven Samurai’, and it was accompanied by this tremendous video which really speak for itself:

The second single appeared in late September, and sees the futuristic prog thrashers on a profound reflection about the pandemic, while maintaining the vibrant, forward-thinking kind of energy as the rest of their output. The song is called 'Pandemic Scale', and you can hear and acquire the digital single here on our Bandcamp.

The story has only just begun (again) – sit tight for more exciting developments soon.

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