{"id":35228,"date":"2025-07-30T20:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/35228\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T20:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:51:08","slug":"pharaoh-overlord-louhi-bandcamp-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/35228\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharaoh Overlord, \u201cLouhi\u201d | Bandcamp Daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBUM OF THE DAY<\/a><\/p>\n

Pharaoh Overlord, \u201cLouhi\u201d<\/p>\n

By <\/p>\n

JR Moores<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00b7
\n July 30, 2025<\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n

For all the bold fusions that have occurred in the history of musical experimentation, rarely have gravelly \u201cCookie Monster\u201d vocals been used by non-metal artists. If somebody is growling as angrily as Cerberus when the mailman arrives, it makes sense to do it over mountainous riffs, thundercrack distortion, and blast beats aplenty.<\/p>\n

Since 2019\u2019s 5<\/a>, Pharaoh Overlord<\/a> have enlisted the roaring vocal services of one of heavy music\u2019s most accomplished vocalists, Aaron Turner of ISIS<\/a>, Sumac<\/a>, and Old Man Gloom<\/a> fame. But to classify Pharaoh Overlord as a metal outfit would be reductive. Formed by members of the Finnish group Circle<\/a> in 2000, and now led by core duo Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Lepp\u00e4nen, the band straddle several styles, but their approach could best be categorized as krautrock or space rock.<\/p>\n

In the first few minutes of Louhi<\/a>, a droning, repetitive, and hypnotic groove is established, with accompanying guitar string scratches and squealing feedback\u2014then Turner starts snarling something barely decipherable, which could well have an apocalyptic theme. At this juncture, conservative kosmische fans might feel bamboozled or even repulsed. Others will be amused or even thrilled. The combination does seem incongruous, as if the vocal track has been copied and pasted from an entirely different recording. It\u2019s absurdly comical, too, which must be part of Pharaoh Overlord\u2019s intentions. Humor has never been far from the agenda of this band or Circle\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Once the ear acclimates, the partnership begins to make more and more sense. Louhi\u2019s music is influenced by Outside The Dream Syndicate<\/a>, Tony Conrad\u2019s 1973 recording with Faust, a masterpiece of drone minimalism, with which Louhi certainly shares a spirit. Its intensity is sustained and adjusted by both the rigidity of repetition and the instrumental flourishes that come and go: a relatively brief synthesizer line here, a new lead guitar part there. Turner\u2019s contribution becomes another recurring element, albeit the most conspicuous one, with which to sustain interest, excitement, and variation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that more traditional listeners will yearn for an instrumental version of this record, which might be provided later down the line as it was with Pharaoh Overlord\u2019s previous outing with Turner, 2020\u2019s 6<\/a>. However, Turner\u2019s presence is a crucial part of the fun and also part of the point. The final result is a bizarre, immersive, and above all, unique experience that no other band could deliver.<\/p>\n

\n NOW PLAYING
\n PAUSED\n <\/p>\n

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by <\/p>\n

\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBUM OF THE DAY Pharaoh Overlord, \u201cLouhi\u201d By JR Moores \u00b7 July 30, 2025 \u200b \u200b For all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-35228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}