REZN

REZN’s fourth monolithic full-length, Solace, is available now.

The seed for the band’s megaton riffs and psychedelic journeys was planted when guitarist Rob McWilliams and bassist Phil Cangelosi began jamming together at age twelve in the DC commuter town of Leesburg, VA. They relocated to Chicago in 2015, recruited local sound engineer Patrick Dunn on the drums, and invited their friend Spencer Ouellette into the studio to round out their bottom-heavy sound with the hum-and-squall of modular synth.

Their 2020 offering Chaotic Divine showcased their use of gargantuan heaviness and lysergic calm, as well as the band’s penchant for tying the music to a new visual landscape, as they did with Let It Burn and Calm Black Water. It was at this moment that their use of saxophone was more than just a cameo, letting the instrument’s richness shine confidently in the spotlight throughout the record.

With Solace, REZN once again blurs the boundaries of their psych and doom labels by exploring more delicate and introspective emotions in the lyrics and instrumentation, using the feeling of empty space to build into towering moments of maximalist density. “This was the first time we were able to immerse ourselves 24/7 in the studio,” says guitarist and vocalist Rob McWilliams. “We wanted it to push us into new territories musically, but also transform the record into something much bigger than what we initially envisioned.”