Starset’s new album Vessels—set for release on January 20, 2017 via Razor & Tie–builds upon a schema where futurism has become fact and imagination is opportunity. The sophomore release from the band, helmed by aural architect Dustin Bates, is a data-stream-rendered-in-sound where Bates’ plaintive howl becomes the deus-ex-machina in an age of information overload – the wail of a ghost in an increasingly complex yet ultimately human machine.
Vessels is the follow-up to Starset’s 2014 Razor & Tie debut, Transmissions, a landmark album selling in excess of a quarter million combined albums, streams and downloads, and propelled by singles including the unforgettable “My Demons” (which spent an unprecedented 43 weeks scaling rock charts). Bates approached Vessels with a singular intent on pushing boundaries.
Once again produced by Rob Graves (Halestorm, Red) and mixed by Ben Grosse (Breaking Benjamin, Filter) the results speak for themselves. From atmospheric opener, “Back To The Earth” to the driving hooks of the album’s first single, “Monster” to the catchy, nearly progressive moments of “Frequency,” Bates along with bandmates bassist Ron DeChant, guitarist Brock Richards and drummer Adam Gilbert have succeeded in escaping the gravity of formula radio rock. Instead, Starset has reimagined a genre-defying vision as an arena where Hans Zimmer interfaces with Radiohead and Trent Reznor.
What began as a near-planetary collision of sound, vision and iconoclastic ideologies inspired by the likes of Nikola Tesla and Ray Kurzweil (AKA: The Father of Singularity) has taken a bold step forward with Vessels.
