ProgRock.com’s Essentials is delighted to release Whiteout, the latest masterpiece from the acclaimed symphonic progressive band, Sonus Umbra, released on June 22nd, 2024. Whiteout is their seventh studio album; a milestone in the band’s critically acclaimed career making the best, thought-provoking, dark, symphonic progressive hard rock.
Whiteout is a sonic departure from the band’s previous work, being their first all-instrumental album. At the same time, it is a conceptual piece that puts the listener in the middle of a battle for the zeitgeist of the American public during the end of the Trump era, shortly after the Jan 6th 2021 MAGA attack on the Capitol building. Describing Whiteout, Luis Nasser, the creative mastermind behind the music of Sonus Umbra’s 35-year career writes: “The dictionary paints a clear picture: A whiteout is a heavy snowstorm; a blizzard that makes it impossible tosee, causing the horizon and all features of the terrain to become invisible.
In my mind, the storm felt like getting shredded by a swarm of lies: corrupted electronics controlled by propagandists. My whiteout was a mental cancer you catch with your eyes and ears; an act of dominance meant to silence forever anyone not a fascist theocrat. In THIS whiteout, the lie is always one leap ahead of the truth. That was my life in America, 2020…The album takes the listener through those turbulent times, and manages to tie them in with two pieces of old Sonus Umbra mythology that die-hard fans will be delighted by. Whiteout itself is a benchmark in sound design, weaving a cinematographic journey of complex soundscapes, blistering music and the voices of past visionaries who had seen the present we now inhabit and warned us about the folly of our choices. Whiteout is a window through which the listener can see the present as a result of past indifference. It is a plea for unity; to abandon tribalism, the cult of personality and embrace instead a future we can all thrive in.”
In keeping with the desire to tie in the past with the present with both eyes wide open looking into the future, Sonus Umbra have recast themselves as a trio on this album: comprised by Luis Nasser, Andy Tillotson and Tim McCaskey, they are joined by former members and musical friends on this sonic journey.
On this album, the band are joined by Aaron Geller (Might Could), Brian Harris, Alan Hearton (Abel Ganz), Steve Katsikas (Little Atlas, Grackle), brothers Pete Laramee (Kurgan’s Bane) and Jeff Laramee (Sonus Umbra, Kurgan’s Bane), Ramsés Luna (Luz de Riada) and Mattias Olsson (Änglagård, Molesome, White Willow). The conspicuous absence of Steve Royce on flute, Rich Poston on electric guitar and Dave Keller on cello should not be misconstrued or used as gossip fodder. This album was conceived in a bubble, during a worldwide pandemic and the stars didn’t align for their participation. However, Sonus Umbra plans to resume active live performance in 2025; those three absentee musos will be there.
Fans and new listeners alike can delve into the Whiteout experience by purchasing the album via Bandcamp and through the Sonus Umbra section on essentials.progrock.com, where the band’s long history of evolving artistry continues to be celebrated.
