Bismuth announce new album, 'The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef'

Heavy/ slow duo, BISMUTH have confirmed details of their upcoming album, titledThe Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef. The album will be released on November 2 via a collaboration between four independent labels; Dry Cough (UK), Rope or Guillotine (NL), Medusa Crush (CA), and Tartarus Records (NL) will jointly share release duties.

The Obelisk website is premiering the first audio from the album - a section of the title track - complete with visuals created by Chariot of Black Moth.

The two piece are based in Nottingham, featuring Joe Rawlings on drums and Tanya Byrne on bass/vocals. The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef is their second full length release, and is in many ways a continuation of earlier work; a strong focus on multiple layers and frequencies coming together to create an enveloping and often oppressive sound is very much BISMUTH's MO.

The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef is a two song opus with quite self explanatory subject matter, lyric-wise. Outside of the band, Byrne, is a volcanologist with a passion for envrionmental science. She explains:

"The current political discourse on how to reduce our impact on ecosystems is stuck in semantics, all while these systems degrade. I believe we can reduce our impact, and I am hopeful that solutions will be found. However, many of these solutions are halted, while governments argue over who is to blame. The album title makes reference to the fact that climate change is affecting this habitat extremely, and inaction is one of the biggest causes of it's decline."

The title track is a 32 minute behemoth, which stays true to BISMUTH's own description - heavy with a core of fragility. The second track, Weltschmerz is - musically and thematically - a continuation of the first. Whilst their songs lean towards being lengthy, the message and passion behind them never diminishes

BISMUTH will be touring throughout November in support of The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef, including dates with Canadian duo Vile Creature.

BISMUTH UK tour dates:

• 23.11 - Nottingham
• 24.11 - Manchester
• 25.11 - Glasgow
• 26.11 - Edinburgh
• 27.11 - Liverpool
• 28.11 - Leeds
• 29.11 - Birmingham
• 30.11 - Cardiff
• 01.12 - London
• 02.12 - Bristol
• 03.12 - Brighton