old smoke

Barishi's Proggy Post-Metal Gets "Entombed in Gold Forever" (Music Video Premiere)

old smoke

Vermonters Barishi got my attention very quickly with their debut Endless Howl EP back in 2015 — I still hold those four songs in the highest esteem possible as basically flawless post-metal with delicious proggy twists to boot. The problem arises when you love something just so much that subsequent iterations of the concept are destined to underwhelm. And I’ll be honest, I think that EP poisoned my mind with its unabashed greatness, because I didn’t vibe fully with Barishi’s debut full-length Blood From the Lion’s Mouth the year after. No worries anymore, though, all is well now: the band is back with a follow-up full-length Old Smoke representing a significant maturation and evolution in sound and approach. It’s difficult to compare new Barishi to old Barishi now, which is a very good sign when it comes to a progressive band always… progressing. Check it out for yourself with a stream of Old Smoke‘s penultimate song “Entombed in Gold Forever” below.

Barishi have thickened their sound for sure, allowing technicality to become fully embedded within the music as something subtle and passive rather than a gleaming element of the music itself. In combination with some super-deep atmospherics (especially counting the vocals here), Old Smoke represents the “most” Barishi to date, meaning everything this band is capable of so far has been jam-packed into one release. My fear at first was that it’d be overblown: this band possesses oodles of talent, and sometimes with that much energy things can become overworked. As “Entombed in Gold Forever” demonstrates, though, Barishi are tighter and more efficient than ever — even the pacing is spot-on, drawing you into its dirge early only to blast your brains clean out of your head by the end. It’s that setup and release structure that won me over on the debut EP, and I’m stoked that it’s been reimagined here in even stronger, groovier terms.

Old Smoke releases April 24th via Season of Mist. Below is a message from

We saw some of Joey Carlino’s animation on Instagram and thought it would be cool to have him do a video for “Entombed in Gold Forever.” The final product absolutely blew us away and I think captured the vibe of the song perfectly. The song itself was kicking around in various forms for a couple of years, but we were never really happy with its structure. We had all the other songs for the record finished, but that one had some glaring issues. I had to go out to the West Coast for work last year and spent all my free time tinkering with the structure. When the song eventually came together, it felt like the final puzzle piece of the record was found. Hope you enjoy.

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