Ghosts of Glaciers just dropped a brand-new song, “Abyssal Declivity,” from their forthcoming record, The Greatest Burden, out September 27 via Translation Loss Records.
“We wrote this song first, well before the majority of the album. Our bassist, Michael, pointed this out recently, but at the time we wrote this song, we were practicing on the second floor of a rundown practice building in a tiny room that was essentially just part of the bathroom that had been sectioned off with some drywall and two-by-fours. The walls were covered in carpet. The floor had a floating “stage” set over a shower drain. It was not ideal. So we were a little grumpy at every practice. This song reflects that anger/discomfort and highlights some of our meaner/more aggressive influences. The abyssal plain is the deepest part of the ocean before any sudden trenches or canyons. Abyssal declivity is a sudden drop from that plain, a cliff thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean. This song reflects that sudden drop into grim darkness.”
– Ben (Drummer)
“Our music isn’t necessarily confined within rigid boundaries, and the fact that we are an instrumental band helps us explore lots of different options. We’ve always mixed different styles from our own musical tastes, and this song brings out some of our more extreme metal influences. There are elements of doom, black metal, Swedish death metal, metallic hardcore, etc. And then there’s the atmospheric melodic elements to tie it all together as well.
“This song was mostly written in between our last album, Decay, and this new album, The Greatest Burden. Like Ben mentioned, it was also written in between different practice space rooms within a rundown practice space called Colorado Music. We were stuck in one of the smallest rooms temporarily while we were waiting for another room to open up, and it was pretty shitty. The building was old and falling apart, but it also helped foster so much creative energy ,and some of our favorite Denver bands rehearsed there. I feel quite grateful to have spent many years playing music there and being around the community of friends/musicians that used it. The building was sold a number of years ago, and everyone was kicked out so more gentrification could settle into the area. Unfortunately, it is still sitting vacant to this day.
Practice spaces are hard to come by in Denver, but we were lucky enough to get access to another practice space after that, because our friends in Primitive Man were on tour and looking to sublet their room. They knew we needed a new practice space, and this helped them out as well. That eventually led to us having a room in our current practice space where many amazing bands/friends rehearse including Primitive Man, Spectral Voice, Blood Incantation, and many more. I feel privileged to be surrounded by such great musicians and friends again, but this time in a much better building. The guys in Primitive Man have done a lot for us over the years, but this specifically really helped us move forward as a band and finish writing this new album and beyond.”
-Steven (Guitar)
