Norwegian progressive metal trio GRANT THE SUN, comprised of current and former members of Insense and Beaten to Death, has recently shared a new track titled ‘Mariana,‘ which is taken from their first full-length album “Voyage,” set to be released on June 9th via Mas-Kina Records.

The follow-up to the band’s critically lauded EP “Sylvain” is a 39-minute inventive and powerful musical experience, journeying through the realms of prog, metal, and post-rock, masterfully weaving from pounding and fierce polymetric metal through sprawling and irreverent groove-laden riffs to beautifully captivating melodies.

Having launched three EPs to date, all entirely instrumental, “Voyage” is the first-ever GRANT THE SUN release to incorporate vocals, with guitarist Markus Lillehaug Johnsen handling all clean vocalizations while guitarist Martin Rygge (who also handles guitars in grindcore group Beaten To Death) providing the fiercer screams. It’s also the first release to be written with the bass lines in mind.

The previous effort “Sylvain” was pivotal to this change, when producer Danne Bergstrand and Meshuggah guitar extraordinaire Fredrik Thordendal thought the songs lacked some bass frequencies, and Thordendal stepped in to play bass on the EP.

As a result, “Voyage” is undoubtedly their greatest and most complete achievement to date, encompassing a wide breadth of moods and sonic landscapes and, at the same time, avoiding easy categorization.

The band reflected on the direction of the new material “Every element of leads, layers, spoken words, and vocals were added to enliven the voyage underwater. The concept was the key element from writing to post-production.”

Pre-orders for the vinyl version are now available at this location. 

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