In the late '90s, the sludge metal monsters known as Rwake came stomping out of Little Rock, Arkansas with a sound that could swallow universes. Rwake made crushing, rabid epics that regularly exceeded 10 minutes. Their structures were proggy and ambitious, and there was always just a tinge of Southern rock melody in their riffage, but they always put primal catharsis front and center. Rwake had a great run of underground classics, but it's been a very long time since their last one. Now, suddenly, they're back.
Rwake haven't released an album since the towering Rest, which came out 13 and a half years ago. Rwake have never quite gone away, and they've dropped a few compilation tracks over the years. Most recently, they resurfaced in 2020, contributing an eight-minute demo called "Infinince" to Shut It Down: A Benefit For Black Lives and a cover of "The Writ" to a Magnetic Eye Black Sabbath tribute. Now, Rwake are coming out with a new album, and it's appropriately titled The Return Of Magik.
Rwake recorded The Return Of Magik on home turf, in Hensley, Arkansas. It's their first record with new guitarist Austin Sublett. The band has shared the album's title track, and I am delighted to report that it's 13 minutes long. There are a few quiet, ominous stretches in there, and there's one extremely cool spoken-word bit, but this thing starts thrashing from the opening seconds and rarely lets up. It's hard for a band to come back after such a long time with something that lives up to the myth, but they've done it. Below, check out the song's spooky Jonathon Oudthone-directed video and the new LP's tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "You Swore We’d Always Be Together"
02 "The Return of Magik"
03 "With Stardust Flowers"
04 "Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration"
05 "In After Reverse"
06 "Φ"
The Return Of Magik is out 3/14 on Relapse.
