THREE SPIRITS
After a brief foray into vocal-led songs, US trio Earthless have taken a more progressive approach on Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons. Their latest album finds them tapping into Japanese folklore and returning to their instrumental roots across three exploratory suites. Guitarist Isaiah Mitchell takes Prog on a journey through their sound.
Words: Dom Lawson Images: Marta Estellés Martín
Earthless (L-R):
Mike Eginton, Mario Rubalcaba, Isaiah Mitchell.
Earthless prefer to let the music do the talking.
New album, Night Parade Of One Hundred
Demons is out now!
Three has frequently been the magic number in progressive music. From ELP and Rush to Animals As Leaders and Hedvig Mollestad Trio, a triangular formation has led to some of the most astonishing and esoteric creative feats in rock history. Now we can add the new Earthless album to that list. An hour-long, semi-improvised acid rock symphony inspired by a nightmarish Japanese folk tale, replete with marauding ghouls, Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons casually redefines what three gifted players can achieve when the usual laws of musical logic are completely ignored.
Formed in San Diego, California in 2001, Earthless are a thoroughly formidable three-headed progressive power trio. Renowned for their lengthy, improvised jams, guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba have spent two decades enjoying the kind of chemistry that most bands would cheerfully jettison a kidney to achieve. The trio met when they were still teenagers, sparking a musical relationship that has reached a new crescendo of brilliance on Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons. As the heroically laid-back Mitchell tells Prog, it all kind of just, you know, happened.