Haken guitarist Charlie Griffiths‘s follow-up to his 2022 solo album is out now, but under the moniker Tiktaalika. It’s titled Gods Of Pangaea and available via InsideOutMusic as is new single ‘Fault Lines’, featuring guest vocals from Rody Walker of Protest The Hero.
I was incredibly lucky to have Rody Walker from Protest The Hero as the featured singer on ‘Fault Lines’,” said Griffiths. “In the video, not only do we get to see Rody delivering the lines, but also Darby Todd and Conner Green in their natural habitats, totally owning the rhythm sections department.
“Lyrically you can take the song literally from the POV of the Earth’s surface fracturing beneath your clawed, scaly feet and burying you alive. Or you can read it as a kind of bitter break up track and I had some fun with some word play connecting those two themes. Rody sings this one in a really fun way and he hits a couple of notes that’ll hit you right in the feels!”
The album itself picks up where the last one 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’ itself was released as a previous single and 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 alongside another video of Griffiths playing guitar against a playthrough of the track.
The guitarist commented at the time: “Since the song was released just over a week ago, I’ve already been sent a bunch of guitar videos of people playing some of the sections, including an amazing eight year old, playing the Iron Maiden section while wearing a dinosaur mask!
“As a musician, seeing others to pick up an instrument and connect with your composition is the best feeling there is, so I’m excited to put out this play-through to hopefully inspire some more shredders and riffers to join in the fun!”
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.
