New Heavy Sounds is super stoked to bring you the full on, take no prisoners, hard rock sci-fi concept album by Transmaniacon, The Darkening Plain.

“Transmaniacon MC” is a track by the Blue Oyster Cult.Transmaniacon is a science fiction novel by John Shirley. These two pieces of art were to be fused together as project for a film of the novel.

Some preliminary work was done, like minded musicians were gathered and hard and heavy music, was created for the film’s soundtrack. Sadly that soundtrack, like the film, lies stillborn.

However projects breed concepts, and a band was born to re-imagine, remould and reanimate the idea. A band fuelled by a burning love of 70’s hard rock and proto metal, science fiction and excursions into the dark side.

Transmaniacon take the blueprint and soundworld laid down by Bloodrock, Mountain, Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper, and add a hefty slab of dark doom, hard riffs, punk and stoner attitude and to RAMP it up for the 21st century. The vibe may be steeped in 70’s rock, but the sound is definitely “NOW”.

From the Sabbathian sludge of “City Of Chaos” to the Dead Kennedy-esque “An Eye For An Eye” and the stoner moves of “Chasing The INSANE” the album is shot through with twists and chock full of riffs. This is hard rock at its hardest and heaviest set against an expansive post apocalyptic backdrop.

Nothing encapsulates the cinematic darkness more than the album opener, which grafts a progressive approach to hard rock and doom. “Quintessence of Dust” is a 24 minute monolithic mindfuck of epic proportions, the now completed score to the stillborn science fiction horror story maybe .

An intense listen that features the spoken word talents of punk poet Lydia Lunch, and as the album’s opener; it’s also a pretty bold statement of intent.

“Quintessence Of Dust” is a grim eco warning, a tale of alien invasion and payback time for a future Earth’s corpulent consumerism, rampant waste and self centred greed. A hideous flesh and metal robot army, hybrid humans inadvertently created by man himself, invade, take over and consume the Earth.

It’s sonic Armageddon, a six movement riff-fest that musically shifts through doom, organ fuelled groove outs, psychedelic electronica, hard rock and metal, to an exhilarating “Boston meets The Who” style power chord ending. It’s a progressive wall of rock that batters, yet sucks you into the bleak story concept.

To visualise this apocalyptic tale for the sleeve, we have enlisted the truly awesome talents of one of the real legends of horror, sci-fi and fantasy illustration, Ian Miller.

From the 70’s to the present day, his beautiful, intricate yet dark and unsettling style has realised in pen and INK, the horrific creations of H.P. Lovecraft’s warped imagination, as well as a whole host of demons and nightmares that have graced (if that’s the word) myriad book covers, comics, films and games.

The album will touch down in heavyweight 180g red and black splatter vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve, with lyric insert and free download of the whole album. The vinyl is limited to just 300 copies. It will of course also be available on CD and digital as well.

The Darkening Plain will be ready to burn ears and fry brains and on October 13th. More info viathe label’s facebook page.

http://hellbound.ca/2014/09/transmaniacon-darkening-plain/