[MUSIC INTERVIEW] HIGH COUNCIL – Cruel And Unusual Interview

US-based progressive heavy metal band HIGH COUNCIL is proud to announce that its new full-length, entitled “Cruel And Unusual,” will be released as CD and double-LP vinyl on April 11th.

“Cruel And Unusual,” is the band’s second full-length album and seventh release overall, features eight tracks of glorious epic metal and represents the culmination of years the band has spent honing both its performance and songwriting skills.

This collection of stone-cold bangers ferries the listener between moods and dynamics like the proverbial boatman across the River Styx, visiting straight-ahead rockers like title-track and “To From Whence”, dynamic epics like “Routed in the Wood (By Eldlings andBrackenguard)” and “Plaguebringer 2025,” and the pits of bleakest despair on the powerful yet despondent “Jackal”.

Though honed in the fires of traditional heavy metal, the new effort also betrays hints of progressive metal, progressive rock, classically-influenced guitar work, and even notes of alternative rock, while throughout, guitarist/vocalists Bob Saunders and Steve Donahue display trademark vocal and guitar harmonies that would bring even the most distant and uncaring pantheon of pagan deities to collective elation.

From the soaring harmonies of opener “Cruel and Unusual” to the ecstatic synth leads of the closing instrumental, “Wildspace,” the album is destined to unite legions of metal maniacs under its banner forevermore.

This week the band sat down with Dave Griffiths to chat more about the album. You can take a listen to the interview right here: