Charlie Griffiths (Haken) announces debut solo album ‘Tiktaalika’, first single ‘Arctic Cemetery’ out now
Features guest vocals from Tommy Rogers of Between the
Buried & Me
Charlie Griffiths, guitarist with British progressive metal heavyweights Haken, is
pleased to announce his debut solo album ‘Tiktaalika’ for release on the 17th June
2022 via InsideOutMusic. With musical roots still firmly in the progressive
realm, Charlie draws from his love of old-school 80s thrash, 90s tech-metal and
alternative rock. Running the gamut from melodic to avant-garde to straight-up
heavy, you might say Tiktaalika bridges the gap between King Crimson and King
Diamond!
The album features an impressive roster of guests, and the album's first single ‘Arctic Cemetery’ includes guest vocals from Tommy Rogers of Between the Buried & Me. Watch the video now here:
Charlie comments: “Arctic Cemetery is
paleontology meets progressive metal. A fossil-dig, through a melodic
tech-metal landscape. I am incredibly lucky to have BTBAM’s Tommy Rogers on
vocals and Darby Todd (Martin Barre, Devin Townsend) on drums. They are both
consummate pros and elevated the song far beyond my expectations. This was one
of the first songs that came to life for the album and once I had the line
‘Dead and buried, laying in an Arctic Cemetery’ the idea blossomed. The song
reflects upon the notion that modern humans can identify locations of
graveyards, hundreds of millions of years old and find remnants of our
ancestors and ask, what can this extinct creature teach us? I find that notion
incredibly awe inspiring and humbling.”
The album includes stunning artwork from Dan
Goldsworthy, and will be available as a Ltd CD Edition, Gatefold 180g 2LP+CD
& as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://charliegriffiths.lnk.to/Tiktaalika
The full track-listing is as follows:
1. Prehistoric
Prelude
2. Arctic
Cemetery
3. Luminous
Beings
4. In Alluvium
5. Dead in the
Water
6. Digging Deeper
7. Tiktaalika
8. Crawl Walk Run
9. Under Polaris
This concept album was 375 million years in the
making, with the 9 tracks drawing inspiration from themes of geological time,
fossilisation, transformation and humanity’s connections with each other and
the planet we inhabit. The Griffiths-penned lyrics are given voice by some of
the best vocalists in the business: Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried And Me),
Danïel De Jongh (Textures), Vladimir Lalić (Organised Chaos) and Neil Purdy
(Luna’s Call).
As well as handling guitar duties, Charlie also takes
care of bass, keyboards and on one track, makes his debut lead vocal
performance. Of the creative process Charlie explains, “I picked up the 6
string guitar again, which ironically has become the more unusual option for
me, after 10 or so years writing with an 8-string guitar for Haken. It
definitely sent me into a different creative headspace, with riff after riff
seemingly falling out of the guitar. I naturally began forming those riffs into
song structures, while simultaneously writing vocal melodies and building the
lyrical concept. It was a great form of escapism from my usual environment and
I had a lot of fun doing it”.
The album also features a host of guest musicians:
Drummer Darby Todd (Martin Barre, Frost, Devin Townsend), Keyboard wizard
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) and Saxophonist Rob Townsend (Steve Hackett).
“All of the guest musicians took the songs to another level” Charlie explains,
“I had everything written and demoed, so the guys could quickly learn the
parts, but I gave free rein for them to bring their personality to the party.
Darby’s drumming style, is so beautifully improvised and more jazz-fusion
influenced, when paired with my riffs, it resulted in something unexpected. It
blows my mind that the synth solo Jordan played was the very first take!
Capturing that spirit of spontaneity within a structured piece is always very
special”.
The album was mixed by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and
mastered by Ermin Hamidovic.
CHARLIE GRIFFITHS online:
https://www.instagram.com/charliegriffithsguitar/
https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieGriffiths
https://www.facebook.com/charlie.griffiths.guitarist
https://twitter.com/c_griffiths
https://linktr.ee/charliegriffiths
INSIDEOUTMUSIC online:
www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV