The past few years have been very good to Mike Semesky (ex-The HAARP Machine). In 2013, he joined Danish metal juggernauts Raunchy to fill the vocal position vacated by Kasper Thomsen, and last year, Raunchy released their sixth album Vices.Virtues.Visions. to massive critical acclaim. Always busy, Semesky has now put together a new progressive metal group, Rest Among Ruins, with two other musicians from his native Baltimore. Their debut album, Fugue, is a concept piece that weaves together many different styles of rock and metal into a mesmerizing tapestry of sound. A perfect example of that is the album’s second track, “In Another’s Skin”, which we’re debuting today.
Semesky describes the concept on the band’s Facebook page:
‘Fugue’ is a 14 song concept album that was inspired by the story of a fascinating patient I had the pleasure of meeting when I was working at a psychiatric hospital, back before I began pursuing my music career. This person’s extremely rare clinical condition was the unfortunate result of a severe traumatic incident, and it sparked a hauntingly fascinating journey in his life under a fictitious identity of which his mind had created. It was unlike any other case I’d ever heard of throughout my experience in the field. Out of respect for rights and privacy, the album absolutely does not reveal names or any identifying details. The lyrics are written in first-person, stream of consciousness form, and shift in and out of his reality, dreams, and dissociation as the story progresses. The instrumentation of the album adapts stylistically to best compliment each chapter of the story, and explores a broad range of heavy and melodic metal, prog, and rock.
Fugue is being self-released by the band, and it comes out on June 2nd. You can pre-order the album via the band’s BandCamp page or through iTunes.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twtO8aLG-pU[/youtube]
