After a creative two years, the (mostly) Berlin-based Elder have unveiled their sixth full-length album, Innate Passage. Prog catches up with guitarist and vocalist Nick DiSalvo to find out more about the personal journey captured across the four-piece’s latest long-form release.

Words: Dom Lawson Images: Maren Michaelis

Aglittering model of progressive intent, Elder have steadily outgrown their early affiliation with the stoner rock and doom metal scenes. Singer/guitarist Nick DiSalvo, who upped sticks and relocated to Berlin a decade ago, has always written songs that aimed higher and wider than the Sabbathinfluenced average. But by the time his band released their fifth album, Omens, in 2020, their transformation into a full-blown progressive force was complete. Unfortunately, April 2020 was a fairly terrible time to be releasing a new record. Denied touring opportunities, DiSalvo set about writing the next Elder record instead. “I’m lucky in that I was able to work from home during the pandemic,” he recalls. “I had plenty of time to sit with my instrument, and we didn’t really know when the next time we were going to play music was, so I was very inspired to write a lot of music during that time, and the songs did come more easily. In a weird kind of way, I had a very clear vision about what this record should sound like, even before we started writing it.”