Mediterranean Extreme Progressive Metal: Where the dark side of Prog meets the light of Latin vibes
North of South release “The Tides in Our Veins” album, an explosive blend of Dark Prog, Latin vibes and Fusion Metal.
Their second full length album gathers together world-renowned figures like Tom S. Englund (Evergrey) and Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) with rising underground talent Rebecca Stanley (The Mariana Hollow) and Flamenco singer Javier Caminero, among others.
Released on June 25th 2021, Spanish multi-instrumentalist Chechu Nos‘ project presents ten new tracks full of metal crossbreeding and experimentation that establish North of South as one of the most audacious revelations in the recent years in the Metal scene.
As in their previous works, Nos takes upon himself vocals and all instruments to give free rein to his extremely diverse influences which leads him to mention amongst his musical tastes such varied names as Amorphis, The Cure, Novembre, Mike Oldfield, Dissection, Paco de Lucía, Iron Maiden, Kate Bush, In Flames, The 3rd and The Mortal and Michael Nyman.
This heterogeneous background turns into a cutting-edge mixture of Progressive and Fusion Metal with certain extreme elements taken from Black and Death, but also numerous prominent references to genres like Melodic Jazz, Pop and Latin/Hispanic music.
In fact, the occasional use of Spanish language and the recurrent presence of Mediterranean and Flamenco atmospheres has become one of the distinguishing features in the music of North of South, which was founded in 2017 and is located in León (Spain).
Despite the individual essence of this music project, North of South has displayed a very collective nature, featuring in the past outstanding names in the worldwide scene like Kobi Farhi (Orphaned Land), Anna Murphy (Cellar Darling, ex Eluveitie) and Zuberoa Aznárez (Diabulus in Musica).
“The Tides in Our Veins” includes the acclaimed latest two singles of North of South: “Soul Cartography” and “Just Fourteen Seconds“, in which Chechu Nos shares vocal duties with Swedish Prog star Tom S. Englund (Evergrey) and Greek Black Metal icon Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ), respectively.
Together with these international legends, the album counts on the presence of British Rebecca Stanley (The Mariana Hollow), one of the most gifted singers in the current European underground. Stanley provides backing vocals in no more than five tracks and also contributes with lead vocals in “Swim Among The Stars“, becoming one of the main secret weapons on this release.
Lyrically, “The Tides in Our Veins” strengthens the thematic universe of North of South, going deep into topics like personal relationships, human contradictions, environmental commitment, the enigmas of Time and Universe and multiple allusions to some of the Nos‘ preferred authors, like Borges, Kafka and Saramago.
The album’s title itself is a free quotation of a verse of American poet Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), a fact that indicates North of South tendency to explore literary territories and enthralling metaphors.
Just like the debut album, “New Latitudes” (2018), and the subsequent Ep, “The Dogma and The Outsider” (2019), “The Tides in Our Veins” has been recorded again at Zoilo Unreal Studios (Marín, Pontevedra, España) and co-produced by Zoilo Unreal (Unreal Overflows) and Chechu Nos himself.
Latin/Progressive/Fusion: NORTH OF SOUTH is a different kind of Metal.