Alice M.
I almost missed this because the first few seconds made me think this was dungeon synth or something. A colleague saved my day by forcing me to listen to it again.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$7USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Run of 300 black vinyl LPs. Comes with fold over heavy paper 4-page 12” insert/booklet. Front cover art is half on the paper foldover, half screenprinted on the plastic outer jacket, making for a two-layer, 3D effect.
Includes unlimited streaming of Collective: The Shape of He to Come
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
$15USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Gatefold digisleeve CD featuring art (on inner gatefold) not present on the LP version. Released by Avantgarde Music. Slightly different track order on CD than LP.
Includes unlimited streaming of Collective: The Shape of He to Come
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
$12USDor more
Euro Tour 2017 Poster
Poster/Print
A3 size full color poster. No additional shipping charge with purchase of LP. PLEASE DO NOT BUY AS STAND-ALONE ITEM. IT IS MEANT TO SHIP WITH AN LP ORDER.
Sold Out
First press / Euro tour edition of 250 hazy clear vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
6-track, full-length vinyl album. Cover art is printed on two surfaces: the red on the inner, cardboard sleeve, and the green on the outer, plastic sleeve, for a multi-dimensional effect. Clear vinyl limited to 250 pieces that will be pressed only once. Further pressings will be on black vinyl.
Includes unlimited streaming of Collective: The Shape of He to Come
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
Botanist w/ Rance + Thharm Paris 2017 Show Poster
Poster/Print
Image by Fortifem. Sold at Botanist's show in Paris. Printing makes it look like each was done by hand. Altoids for scale. Get your own Altoids. SHIPS FREE WITH PURCHASE OF (any) LP. DO NOT PURCHASE AS SINGLE ITEM.
Praise thee, Azalea
Unquenchable conqueror
Reclaimer of verdant rule
God of upheaval
The upheaval of Nature over all
Hail thee, Azalea
Great adversary
Opposing the path of doom
Countering the human folly
The folly of self-destruction
I exalt thee, Azalea
Procreator of the messiah
He who shall mark the floral apocalypse
The guiding light to glory
The eternal glory of the Verdant Realm
It runs across the soil
And through the branches of the trees
O'er the canopies upon the hills
And into the depths of the sea
It can be seen in the paths of birds
And in the rising of the waters
The shape of he to come
It can be felt in the air
And heard in the growing silence
A murmur of he who is to come
The messiah of the end
Figurehead of the apocalypse
And herald of the Budding Dawn
Out of a race doomed
Nature chooses its hero
Flesh and flora unite
A champion from the damned
For he is the avatar
The last remnant of man
The final vestige of a race turned to dust
Flora grows from flesh
As humanity falls away
Symbolic of armageddon's rise
The shape of he to come
The shape of he to come
Glory be to Flora, the divine
Embodiment of the unseen
That which makes what is
That which balances all
All that represents
The truest knowable god
Hail thee
True one
Modern Man the oppressor
He who tests the balance
He who pushes it to break apart
He who shall be wiped away
Nature and Man reconciled
As the latter falls to dust
Balance restored by forces primordial
Fathomless to mortal comprehension
Herald the coming of the Verdant Messiah
The false, the self-made gods will fall
Into an abyss of their creation
The time of surfeit is coming
An upheaval of wrath approaches
When the land ceases to be pillaged
The earth misused and perverted
Resources devoured without sense
Only then shall Nature and Man be reconciled
Perhaps in death, perhaps in life
Perhaps as a font for a flower to grow
Man will be instrumental in what is to come
When flora reconquers the earth
Can the oppressors change their view
And exalt something bigger than themselves
Can the tide be turned before nature exacts revenge
Will Mankind consume itself into oblivion
Trampling what keeps it alive
Spitting on its gift
What has been granted shall be taken away
As the Earth marshals its forces
Only when Humanity’s blight is at an end
Shall the Deer lie down beside Man
And the verdant again can grow
Only when Humanity can see its place
Its true role in the grand scheme
Can armageddon be averted
Here, upon my living throne of Veltheimia
My cathedra of emerald and red
I await the time of the great passing
(Into which the world shall be led)
The end of the era of the slow death
Into an infinite time of glory
Closing the age of waste
The earth draws new breath
Surrounded by my future kin, I wait
My floral brethren sole companions
And the fauna with which they live
Symbiotically they thrive
Guided by voices am I
The words of master Azalea
Directing my purpose
For the glory of the Budding Dawn
I am promised a place amongst them
An equal in the continuum of chlorophyll
Conscious yet drifting
All of one mind
Each with his own role
Each with his perfect place
Existing blissfully
In an endless cycle of reincarnation
Reborn forever as one of the Verdant Realm
Drifting glacially in Nature’s utopia
I am to be granted a place in the vegetal horde
In a perfect balance
Living, dying, and falling to the earth
To rise anew
War and hate curse them all
Death by their own hands
Nature revolts
Tides shall rise
All shall be wiped away
Watch them die from my throne
Alone I sit as their world ends
The suffering shall end
When the oppressors come to pass
I shall watch them crawl to their doom
From my haven of green
Where fauna is my kin
From my cathedra of emerald and red
Surrounded by floral brethren
Upon Veltheim’s throne
Shall I wait
I am meant to outlast them all
The tyrants of the slow death
I shall be the last trace
Of their doomed race
For my labor I am to join them, rewarded
Within the continuum, eternal
To become one of the myriad, immortal
To join consciousness in endless bliss
about
“The Shape of He to Come” is the first of the “Collective” series, which means that it diverges from the model of Botanist studio albums as the result of me, Otrebor, doing everything, and instead recording more like a full band with distributed responsibilities. “The Shape” stands as a testimonial to the work, time, and effort that six of us put into rehearsing, touring, and composing from the years 2013-2016.
The origins of “The Shape of He to Come” came from my desire to give all the members of Botanist live the opportunity to contribute to a studio record; to give them a greater feeling of inclusion in Botanist -- and also to see what they were capable of and what my options would be for further inclusion in numbered Botanist albums.
The resulting album turned out wonderfully. I took some pre-existing drum tracks that I recorded in 2010 and gave them to D. Neal and R. Chiang with instructions to do what they wanted. Initially, the album was meant to be a 3-song EP, with the three songs being divided amongst Neal and Chiang as to who would take the “lead” and who would write complementary parts.
That proved to be trickier than I had thought. A combination of Neal’s exuberance and the challenge Chiang found himself in writing music to drum tracks led to Neal writing and recording all the dulcimer parts for the three longest songs (“The Shape of He to Come,” “The Reconciliation of Nature and Man,” and “Upon Veltheim’s Throne Shall I Wait”), and Chiang writing and recording two of the segues that were unrestricted by drum arrangements (“To Join the Continuum,” “And the Earth Throws off Its Oppressors”). Neal also wrote the bass guitar parts (with the exception of the parts on “Hail Azalea,” which were written by Bezaelith), with all bass guitar expertly performed by Balan on the album.
D. Neal and R. Chiang both recorded their outstanding composition that would be much later named “Praise Azalea, the Adversary.” This piece was performed as an intro to most of our live shows, but without vocals, which were added for this album.
I composed and recorded the keyboards, which were added after the main compositions were done.
All lyrics and song titles were written by me, with the intention to deviate the content of the album from the more standard Botanist fare of romance-meets-science, and into something more overtly philosophical and spiritual... even theological. I wrote the vocal parts for the three long songs.
Since all six members that were part of Botanist live from 2013-2015 had to be included, and the bass guitar had already been accounted for by the (then) current bassist, Bezaelith was asked to contribute her amazing melodic vocals to the songs. (Bezaelith wrote the vocal parts to the segues.) I saw this as a perfect opportunity to test the waters with my own melodic vocal abilities, and to see how well they would turn out in the interest of developing them further down the solo album line. Thanks to Bezaelith’s inspiration and support, my confidence, ease, and ability to sing melodically grew exponentially with this record. The result marks a major divergence in the Botanist canon.
Last but not least, the presence and vocal contribution of A. Lindo (aka “Golem”) was mandatory. Lindo is the voice of all the harsh parts on the album (with one minor line in one song that is doubled by Otrebor, who also does the spoken parts at the end of “Reconciliation”). He wrote the vocal parts to “Praise Azalea, the Adversary,” to which he also composed and performed the harmonium parts. Like his remarkable stage performances, Lindo’s intense, fearsome, and sometimes eerily weird vocals punctuate the sections with lovely melodics in a way that I love. I hope you do, too.
-- Otrebor
credits
released September 1, 2017
“The Shape of He to Come” was recorded in various home studios in Northern and Southern California from the years 2010-2016, and mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley @ The Atomic Garden, East Palo Alto, CA, in December, 2016.
Artistic concept and work, and layout done by Irrwisch Artdesign.
Special thanks to Zaragil for inspiration on the song arrangements.
supported by 94 fans who also own “Collective: The Shape of He to Come”
never been a big death metal fan but this is actually super accessible for the genre, has fun concepts, and personally i'm always a fan of albums with short tracklists and huge runtimes (for individual songs) Great time, good jumping on point for newbies too. alienasu
supported by 80 fans who also own “Collective: The Shape of He to Come”
Mikolaj is a real multi-talent in bass as well as guitar as well as vocals and "Darkside" Maciej's drumming is a well-calibrated 100th-of-seconds-clockwork. Not for nothing is Mgla considered as a standard for a lot of other blacker-than-black metal bands. I hope to see this band live once..... grote_smurf