Italian death doom band ASSUMPTION have released "Paradox Of The Arrow," the title track from their third album. Paradox Of The Arrow comes out November 13 on LP, CD and digital via the band's new label home, 20 Buck Spin.
The song follows "Tombs Upon The Sun," which arrived with the album announcement earlier this month. The record takes its name from Zeno's paradox of motion: the idea that an arrow in flight, observed at any single instant, is motionless.
Vocalist and guitarist Giorgio Trombino explains that the song was written when the band "felt like we were trapped in a limbo due to a whole array of annoying setbacks." A string of problems hit the production and release of their second album, Hadean Tides, to the point that the band's future was in question. Zeno's paradox, with its picture of time as a series of still frames, gave that turmoil a lyrical voice. The near-motionless clean guitar notes in the intro stand for the "moving-yet-immobile arrows" in Mariya Popyk's cover painting.
Across six tracks, the album alternates slow, tectonic riffing with bursts of violent death metal, dissonant suspended passages and psychedelic touches. Guitars and bass were tracked by the band in Italy and Slovenia, then reamped alongside the drums, vocals and synths, with Claudio Mulas engineering, mixing and mastering. Fans of DISEMBOWELMENT, SPECTRAL VOICE, MORTIFERUM, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION and EVOKEN are the target audience.
ASSUMPTION are: Giorgio Trombino (vocals, guitar, synths), Matija Dolinar (guitar), Claudio Troise (bass), David Lucido (drums).
Order & Stream "Paradox Of The Arrow": Bandcamp · 20 Buck Spin