Denali is a new beast, featuring of Countless Skies, Everest Queen and Cerberus Unchained. It was a surprise project in that guitarist James McGrenery was just mucking about (musically, as music people are wont to do) when he realised he had something, and needed some extra bodies to flesh out his creation. Pulling in a few buddies resulted in the three songs which make up Denali’s debut EP.
They throw the death/doom label around and both sounds are present in spades. Opener “Catafalque” is, frankly, epic. Tons of background sounds push this into atmospheric sphere, and the ten minutes it runs for just blast by. Current single “Beneath the Waves” is a little faster paced, whereas the EP closer , “Deathless” at a relatively short 8:40, goes more for the soaring and majestic. Essentially, the three songs sound like they’ve come from the same band, but show of very different facets of their sound.
Given that Denali almost came about by accident, they have a wonderfully coherent sound. Dark, earthy and perfect head-nodding fodder for fans of the likes of My Dying Bride, older Paradise Lost and the like. Production is fantastic, too. The cymbals splash, the bass thumps and the throaty vocals leave scars on your eardrums.
There are so many great small acts around these days, but based on these three (lengthy) songs we can definitely recommend checking out Denali.
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Denali is out on April 1st via Bandcamp (Bandcamp Friday!)
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