The Reticent: out 25 September 2020

The prog extreme metal entity The Reticent (U.S.) has the new album The Oubliette ready for the 25th of September, 2020. The Reticent is ambitious music, with a certain old Opeth influence that Opeth fans might appreciate quite a bit. Below is the official propaganda for the album.

The Reticent

The Oubliette

Heaven & Hell Records

25 September 2020

About: The Reticent is an NC outfit that is, as Hard Rock Haven put it, “progressive in the truest sense of the term.” Beginning as an atmospheric acoustic side project for mastermind Chris Hathcock while he toured with war-metallers Wehrwolfe, The Reticent has become a fully realized emotional experience rooted in progressive rock and metal. This was epitomized in the band’s critically acclaimed 2016 release on Heaven & Hell Records, “On The Eve Of A Goodbye” produced by Jamie King (BTBAM, The Contortionist, Scale the Summit). The album was a tragic autobiographical concept record that chronicled the day before, day of, and the day after the suicide of Hathcock’s childhood friend Eve. Critics and fans of the record alike were moved by the compelling narrative and heartrending performances. The Reticent has gone even further in their live performances to create an audiovisual emotional experience unlike any other by utilizing film, story-telling, and the sheer intensity of the music. Such unique and evocative performances have earned The Reticent a reputation throughout the American east coast as a stellar live show, taking in awards for their live performances from magazines like YES! Weekly. This intense live experience was achieved thanks to the incredible talents of The Reticent’s other members: James Nelson (Ozai), Cliff Stankiewicz (Abacab, Interstellar Overdrive), and Mitch Moore (Rites to Sedition, Inferion).

In 2019, Hathcock began preparing The Reticent for a new concept album and an all new stage show. The forthcoming album (again produced by King), “The Oubliette,” is another stirring autobiographical tale, this time of the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease. Fans and critics alike are eager to sink their teeth into another intense emotional outpouring of progressive metal as The Reticent prepares to release new music and strike back out on the road.

Hatchcock adds: “As with my previous album, I hope that ‘The Oubliette’ will provide listeners with a rich and emotionally challenging audio experience. This is undoubtedly the most ambitious record The Reticent has attempted to date. The hope is that listeners will be personally affected by the music on a deep level and that it may draw some attention to a disease that is frighteningly prominent but frequently poorly understood. There will be moments that are soothing and there will be moments that are overwhelming. The story I have to tell is not a happy one but it is an important one – and it is often through the pain that we find the most profound reflection and calls to action.”

“The Oubliette” is due out via Heaven & Hell Records on September 25, 2020.

The album as a whole: “The Oubliette” is a progressive metal concept album focused on Alzheimer’s disease. The album follows the journey of an old man named Henry (based upon a relative of songwriter Chris Hathcock) as he descends through the seven stages of Alzheimer’s. He doesn’t know where he is or why he’s there. He doesn’t remember his wife is dead. He doesn’t recognize his son. Step by step the disease takes his memories, his ability to speak, his ability to walk, his ability to breathe. The music of “The Oubliette” traverses styles as divergent as jazz and black metal all within the framework of emotionally driven progressive metal. With each track sonically independent from its predecessor, the album moves the listener from experience to experience, vague memories to dreams and nightmares all toward its heartbreaking finale.

1. Stage 1 – His Name Is Henry 09:46

2. Stage 2 – The Captive 06:00

3. Stage 3 – The Palliative Breath 07:13

4. Stage 4 – The Dream 11:47

5. Stage 5 – The Nightmare 12:14

6. Stage 6 – The Oubliette 10:38

7. Stage 7 – ________ 06:10

01:03:48

THE RETICENT - Stage 2: The Captive (Official Video)

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