Haken guitarist Charlie Griffiths returns with a follow-up to his 2022 solo album, but under the moniker Tiktaalika with Gods Of Pangaea that’s set for release on 14th March via InsideOutMusic.
The album picks up where the last left off, and continues with an exploration into an ancient forgotten world, colliding with the human centric planet we inhabit today, and it’s pre-empted by the title track as a single with accompanying video release.
‘Gods of Pangaea’ features vocals from Texture’s Daniël de Jongh. While the video sees Griffiths colouring in the cover art, once again created by Dan Goldsworthy (Sepultura, Body Count, Aborted)that you can watch now here: at RAMzine.
Musically the album pays tribute to the art of the guitar riff, with its DNA strands reaching back to the golden era of metal with flavours of Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Megadeth and Metallica. Regarding the creative process Griffiths explained, “This time around I wanted to be more song oriented, rather than having an overarching concept. Although I had a rough blueprint for the shape of the album in my head and was always conscious of the balance and flow of the album experience; starting with a fast thrasher, following up with a longer progressive track, then a slower sludgy song, followed by a softer track and so on. I finished all the music first and really focused on each section be there for a good reason, with a guitar riff that propels the song.”
The album finds the guitarist joined by drummer Darby Todd (Devin Townsend) and bassist Conner Green (Haken), alongside vocalists Tommy Rogers (Between The Buried & Me), Rody Walker (Protest The Hero), Vladimir Lalić (Organised Chaos) all joining the aforementioned de Jongh.
“I had all the music written for a good while,” Griffiths commented, “I was able to allow them to really percolate in my mind before moving on to the lyrics and vocal line demos. I’m very specific with melodies and word placement so the singers can focus on just delivering it 100% without having to figure too much out. Of course, every single track came out a thousand times better than I’d hoped; everyone did an incredible job!”
Tracks featured are as follows: ‘Tyrannicide’ and ‘Gods Of Pangaea’ both featuring de Jongh, ‘The Forbidden Zone’ and ‘Mesozoic Mantras’ both featuring Lalić, ‘Fault Lines’ featuring Walker’, ‘Give Up The Ghost’ featuring de Jongh, ‘Lost Continent’ featuring Rogers and ‘Chicxulub’ a bonus Track on CD & digital releases.
The album was mixed by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street studios and will be available as a limited CD edition (including 1 bonus track), gatefold LP & as a digital Album from here.
