Deluxe colored 12" gatefold vinyl of our debut album 'Raya'. Pressed on clear off-white vinyl with dark smokey details. The gatefold artwork is pressed on reversed cardboard and comes with an extra 60x30cm lyric poster insert.
Artwork by Iljen Put.
Pressed at dunk!pressing in Belgium.
Includes unlimited streaming of Raya
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
‘Viso’ is the second chapter of ‘Raya’, the full length album of Pothamus (out December 4th). In this potent surge of power, the Belgian trio merges gritted sludge with stoner riffage, droning turmoil and unsettling soundscapes. ‘Viso’ represents the birth of Man, paraphrasing the anthropogenic chapter in the band’s own mythology. Monumental sounds evocate visions of mankind’s vigorous begetting, while lyrics commemorate our primordial origins.
In this subsequent stage, Pothamus ponders the origins of Man. Not simply as born on this earth, but as born out of and from this earth. One could interpret this quite literally, as astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell states that “each of us is literally made of the Earth, as is all life on the planet”. The water in our body, the carbon in the organic molecules of our cells, the salt in our sweat and tears, the calcium in our bones, and the iron in our blood “all eroded out of the rocks of the Earth's crust; as the sulphur of the protein molecules in our muscles was once spewed out by volcanoes”. The particles conceiving the cosmos are also found within us.
In a more spiritual and metaphysicist sense, this awareness probes our relationship with the Earth. In ‘Viso’, the idea is thus put forth that nature is not merely around us, as the implicit but pervasive dualistic credo of the 19th century Enlightenment proclaimed. There is not a ‘natural world’ that is ‘out there’ from which we can withdraw. Nature is within us, as we are within nature. In its most abstract and general sense, ‘Viso’ implies an absolute interconnectedness with our natural surroundings. A total refutation of the duality between self and non-self: We are the Earth.
lyrics
Gaia;
Earth and Sky.
You form
What has been born,
What will be born.
From this soil,
Form this soul,
Form these bones.
Embody Raya.
Mattias M. Van Hulle - Drums
Michael Lombarts - Bass
Sam Coussens - Guitar & Vocals
Produced & mixed by Chiaran Verheyden
Recording assistance by Victor Jacobs
Recorded at GAM Studios, Malmedy
Mastering by Laurens Grossens at Motormusic Studio, Mechelen
Artwork & design: Iljen Put
Assistance and guidance: Tim ‘Po’ Van Eycken, Gert Stockmans, Céline Gladiné, Victor Jacobs, Chiaran Verheyden, Stefan De Graef, Iljen Put, Mike Keirsbilck and Thibault Viaene
We would also like to thank Leen Vanseuningen, Céline Gladiné, Karolien Daelemans, Franky Lucas, Psychonaut, L’itch, Tijmen Govaerts, Monda Feyaerts and Liliane Ponsaerts for their support
The recording of this album was made possible by the generous contributions of our crowdfunders. Special mention to Anja Van Der Zalm, Nils Nahooy and Bernd Van Praet
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