Regarding “Alföldi kozmosz”, Tamás Kátai comments: “This is a quite spontaneous song, recorded in my childhood room with my old, 10 Dollar classical guitar while on a visit at home in Hungary. The violin comes similarly off-handed, played by my Greek friend, Dimitris Papageorgiou. There are no vocals, only music depicting my love towards the great Hungarian plain where I was born and raised. Or home. Hence this song title, which translates as 'Lowland Cosmos'.”
Thy Catafalque are simultaneously unveiling the artwork for Sgùrr, due to be released on October 16 2015 on Season of Mist; the artwork and the tracklist can be viewed below.
Tracklist:
1. Zúgó
2. Alföldi kozmosz
3. Oldódó formák a halál titokzatos birodalmáb
4. A hajnal kék kapuja
5. Élő lény
6. Jura
7. Sgùrr Eilde Mòr
8. Keringo
9. Zúgó
Thy Catafalque comment on Sgùrr: “The title of this album derives from Scottish Gaelic and means 'the top of a mountain',” states Tamás Kátai. “Yet most of the songs are equally about water, mountains, their interrelationship and the symbols attached to them - inspired by the Scottish Highlands and weird enough the Hungarian Lowlands. There are not many vocal lines at all, but when there occur, they are not pleasant. Compare to previous albums this music is mostly unfriendly, bristling and cold compared to the previous albums. I guess everything is more metal this time.”
Thy Catafalque have rarely done obvious music. Mastermind Tamás Kátai prefers to compose lasting songs that demand patience and only slowly reveal their stunning beauty and sinister depths. With his sixth album Sgùrr, the Hungarian achieves an even more balanced and subtle approach. Continuing on the course set by previous full-length Rengeteg (2011), the multi-instrumentalist weaves a colourful tapestry of sound with strands of metal, folklore, rock and even some jazz as well as pop. The dark roots of Thy Catafalque can still be glimpsed as the project started out as a black metal band founded by singer Tamás Kátai with the aid of guitarist János Juhász. From their joined debut Sublunary Tragedies (1999) on, they continued to evolve into a sonically quite different beast, gaining glowing reviews and a growing number of adherents through Microcosmos (2001) and the self-released Tűnő idő tárlat (2004). On their fourth album Róka hasa radio (2009), Ágnes Tóth from neo-folk outfit The Moon and the Nightspirit contributed haunting female vocals. With Rengeteg Tamás Kátai went solo and hired guest musicians, including once again the talents of Ágnes Tóth. Dubbing his eclectic musical amalgamation avant-garde metal, the Hungarian began to impress a global audience. With the sweeping new album Sgùrr backed by amazing new guests, Thy Catafalque are ready for the next step. Join the cult!
Line-up
Tamás Kátai: vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, programming
Guest musicians
Dimitris Papageorgiou: violin
Balázs Hermann: double bass
Zoltán Kónya: additional vocals
Ágnes Sipos: soprano
Viktória Varga: narration
Herjann
[email protected]