ANCESTORS is a five-piece psychedelic doom metal
ensemble from Los Angeles. ANCESTORS transmogrifies
the epic nature of seventies psychedelic and progressive
music into a form that also incorporates vintage, doom and
drone metal.
The unique song construction used by ANCESTORS starts
with an improvisational method that takes root from the
eclectic zeniths of the members perception, and a vision for
a structural framework that provides a sonic architecture of
an omnipotent grand presence. Then, adding disparate
transitions that show the insatiability of their songwriting,
all of these spellbinding algorithms culminate in
overwhelming pieces that transcend from motif to motif.
Justin Maranga, Nick Long and Brandon Pierce began a
three-piece project in the summer of 2006, then shortly
after added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon
shortly after taking up what was at the time a temporary
residence in Los Angeles. The band then finally found its
final member, J Christopher Watkins, who majestically met
the band's need for an organist.
Their debut LP, Neptune With Fire — a conceptual, two
track record with a title track that tells of a metaphorical
character and his cosmic, psychological ordeal through war,
celebration, remorse and revelation — was released in
August 2008. Artwork for the record was delivered by
psychedelic visionary Arik Roper, the artist behind such
record covers as Sleep's Dopesmoker, and Earth's The
Bee Made Honey in the Lion's Skull.
Combining the embrace of the grand storytelling featured in
conceptual space and psychedelic rock songwriting, the soul
of hard rock and vintage metal, and the transmundane ethic
of epic, ANCESTORS induces catastrophic experiences in
the listener.
