Joining together the righteous forces of Obsequiae and Inexorum for some Gothenburg-style melodeath throwback, it’s been nearly two and a half years since the release of Majesties‘ debut album Vast Reaches Unclaimed and it’s still a favorite amongst some of us here at Nine Circles. A follow-up may not (yet) be upon us, but myself and a couple others had the utmost privilege of catching their incredible live debut at this year’s Fire in the Mountains festival on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. I had asked the core trio of Tanner, Carl Skildum, and Matt Kirkwold if they were down for an interview at some point during the festival; naturally it’s hard to arrange such a meeting with no cell service and schedules all over the place (not to mention not wanting to miss a ton of killer bands), but Tanner and I were able to set aside some time to record on the shore of Two Medicine Lake right near the festival grounds. We discussed how the show went, nerded out about classic melodic extreme metal (a lot), and more. Check back in the not-too-distant future as more from Majesties is on the horizon!
Tanner (and Colin’s) classic melodic recs:
- Fall of the Leafe – Evanescent, Everfading (1998) & August Wernicke (1999)
- Decoryah – Wisdom Floats (1994) & Fall-Dark Waters (1996)
- Night in Gales – Sylphlike (1995) & Towards the Twilight (1997)
- Eucharist – A Velvet Creation (1993)
- Cromlech – …and Darkness Fell (1996) & Promo ’99 (1999)
- At the Gates – The Red in the Sky is Ours (1992)
- Sacramentum – Finis Malorum (1994) & Far Away from the Sun (1996) [Colin’s note: I mispronounced the drummer for this album as Nicklas Karlsson when it’s actually Nicklas Rudolfsson. Swedish names and all that. Also, RIP Nisse Karlén.]
- Hypocrite – Edge of Existence (1996) & Into the Halls of the Blind (1999)
- Dawn – Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher (1994)
- Mithotyn
- Suidakra – Lays from Afar (1999)
- Mi’gauss – Open Season (2003)
- Excretion – Voice of Harmony (1995)
Gentle hails to Tanner for his time (and impeccably cleaning up the intensity of Converge from the background audio)!
— Colin
Vast Reaches Unclaimed is available now on 20 Buck Spin. For more information on Majesties, check out their Instagram page.
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