Since its foundation in 2007, the French trio Mars Red Sky has not been tamed within the limits of stoner rock. This was evident on their self-titled debut of 2011 as well as on the following albums "Stranded In Arcadia" (2014) and "Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)" (2016) and is now confirmed on the latest output "The Task Eternal", which can be a violent doom but also offers countless elegant and smoldering passages. Drummer Mathieu Gazeau: "We have expanded our vocabulary. With each album we want to open new doors and acquire new things. We listen to a lot of different music. We love psych-pop, jazz, 60s music. I think you can hear all that on the album, too."
Gazeau, singer/guitarist Julien Pras and bassist Jimmy Kinast have turned the outer setscrews to avoid walking on well-trodden paths. "Our original idea was to find a very quiet place in the middle of nowhere to write the album. A friend then recommended the Château de Monteton, about an hour south of Bordeaux. This is a 17th century castle built on the ruins of a medieval castle. The area is very beautiful, a lot of nature. Perhaps the castle has influenced us in a spiritual, dark and romantic way."
The studio is not the only innovation. Mars Red Sky also have a new producer. "We're still friends with Gabriel [Zander]. But we wanted to try something new. With Benjamin Mandeau we recorded some time ago a cover of 'Comfortably Numb' for a Pink-Floyd tribute sampler. He's actually an indie pop producer. We liked that, and we wanted to see what came out of it when he produced us."
The new producer seems to have given the band a new approach. Although the progressive elements of the last album "Apex III" are still present, Mars Red Sky are now more straightforward, the tracks shorter. Which Gazeau also confirms: "Take for example the song 'Collector'. The song could have been much longer. But we didn't want that anymore."
