BASK - The Turning (Album Review)

Release Date: August 22nd 2025. Record Label: Season Of Mist Records. Formats: CD.DD/Vinyl

The Turning - Tracklisting

1.Chasm

2.In the Heat of the Dying Sun

3.The Traveler 

4.The Cloth

5.Dig My Heels 

6.Unwound

7.Long Lost Light 

8.The Turning

Members

Recording Line-Up:

-Scott Middleton

-Jesse Van Note

-Ray Worth

-Zeb Wright

-Jed Willis

Guest Musicians:

-Clay White - trumpet

-Franklin Keel - cello

-Alex Taub - piano, Hammond b3

Review

The Turning is the eagerly awaited fourth album from Psych/Doom/Stoner Rockers BASK which sees the band return after a six year absence with new material. This has been well worth the wait with BASK generating their own style of Progressive leaning Stoner Rock sound that sees their trademark use of Country, Americana, Space Rock and Blues Rock based harmonies being given a heavier Sludge Rock/Metal makeover influenced by the likes of MASTODON and BARONESS.

There’s also a chilling sense of Post-Doom and Post-Metal melodies that develops within the more abrasive and violent sounds that sees BASK venture out for the very first time in some places. Though, the classic early Americana themes that made BASK such a force to be reckoned with are never too far behind. Throw in a subtle mix of Prog Rock, Folk Rock and Cosmic Rock grooves which allows The Turning to be very hard to categorize and define at times.

This is also one of the albums and possibly BASK’s greatest strengths as you’re not sure what to expect with each passing song. Did you ever wonder what Heavy Spaced Out Doom would sound like when merged with Country, Southern Rock and Americana passages. Well, the answer is perfectly captured here on superbly constructed and brilliantly played tracks such as In The Heat Of The Dying Sun, The Traveler, Dig My Heels and Unwound being some of the best material that BASK have written to date.

Their music is constantly evolving but still showing a thrilling and adventurous creative attitude with BASK not afraid to add even more elements of music such as Post-Rock, Ambient Melodies and Shoegaze which is brought to life with their epic use of different instruments throughout the album. The record can be quite ROOTS based with the “TWANGY” instrumental movements but it’s kept within the areas of Sludge/Stoner Metal with BASK never afraid to experiment at the most crucial moment which transfers this record into MONOLITHIC and INTERDIMENSIONAL SPACE GOAT territory. 

With a range of diverse influences such as Mastodon, Baroness, Elder, Hawkwind, All Them Witches and King Buffalo with BASK even forging and creating their unique style of Heavy Psychedelic music of the highest order. What also makes them stand out is how the band brings a classic EVERYMAN level of storytelling into their cinematic adventure. The lyrics are quite hopeful and brilliantly insightful even when the music takes a daring and apocalyptic turn.

The Turning is an emotionally charged record of the highest order with BASK firmly establishing themselves as one of the most unique and original voices within the modern day Psych Stoner Rock/Metal scene. This is a record of REAL QUALITY and can easily be considered one of the best Psychedelic Rock albums of the year.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Season Of Mist for the promo.

The Turning is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Season Of Mist.

Links

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/bask/209266263
Bandcamp: https://basknc.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/basknc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baskband/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebandbask

Psych Stoner Rock Collective BASK Release Cosmic Cover of The Brian Jonestown Massacre Classic Track Anemone

After a smoking hot tour with their labelmates and fellow North Carolinians Weedeater, Bask are now ready to turn over a different kind of leaf. The Asheville natives will release their fourth album later this year. But first, the band are looking back at one of their influences.

"We've always been inspired by acts like The Brian Jonestown Massacre", says guitarist and vocalist Zeb Wright. "They write songs that feel outside of time and place".

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the documentary that thrust The Brian Jonestown Massacre into the spotlight, today, Bask are releasing a cover of "Anemone". The road to get to this point has been much smoother than it was for the shaggy San Franciscan collective, but the heavy dose of Americana that the band bring to this cult classic shows how far they've come.

Even though they're separated across coastlines and nearly three decades, Bask and The Brian Jonestown Massacre were in a similar headspace heading into their fourth albums. While partially named after the Rolling Stones' guitarist, BJM shifted from spaced-out shoegaze to flower-powered '60s psychedelia on 1996's Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request. Bask's upcoming full-length also ventures into headier pastures, though their cover of that album's sleeper hit "Anemone" is plucked straight from the band's Appalachian roots.

"You should be picking me up / Instead you're dragging me down", Wright repeats in a dazed drawl while twanging on his banjo.

Bask haven't endured nearly the same amount of lineup turnover as their kindred spirits in The Brian Jonestown Massacre. On "Anemone", Drummer Scott Middleton and bassist Jesse Van Note hold down a bottomless groove that's as sludgy and free-flowing as a riverbed. But this cover is the first release since Jed Willis joined as the band's official fifth member. As his pedal steel ripples against Ray Worth's colorfully swirling leads, the band take cosmic country into a whole new dimension.

"'Anemone' is hypnotic in its repetition and perfectly expresses the combination of emotional distress and unbothered cool that to us feels so integral to BJM's sound and songwriting", Bask says. "It's also really fun to play and riff on".

More praise for Bask:

"I've heard the components of Bask's music before: Baroness, U.S. Christmas, Bruce Springsteen, Crazy Horse, Across Tundras and so forth. But I've never heard them together as one unit. If someone were to ask me if it were possible to be heavy without being brutal, I'd refer them to Bask" - Invisible Oranges.

"Such a knack for expressive music is Bask's bread and butter" - Angry Metal Guy

"This is the kind of band you want to see grow. Join the party now" - Heavy Blog is Heavy

"The entire thing rocks your socks off with gripping guitar riffing" - Metal Bite

"... a remarkable demonstration of melodic genius created by a shrewd horde of big-footed giants...behold and bear witness to legends among villagers!" - Outlaws of the Sun

"...undeniably both infection and innovative" - Metal Storm

Lineup:

Jesse Van Note – Bass
Scott Middleton – Drums
Ray Worth – Guitar
Zeb Wright – Guitar/Vocals
Jed Willis - Pedal Steel

Guest Musician:

Kenny Harrington - Tambourine

Recording Studio:

Echo Mountain Spring

Production:

Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Kenny Harrington and Zeb Wright.

Mastered by Joe Hutchinson at Garage Masters in Nashville, TN

Follow Bask:

Official Website: http://www.baskband.com
Bandcamp: https://basknc.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/basknc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baskband/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebandbask
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/44JvnzLiXzAtiMSDJTnFC7
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/bask/209266263

Thanks to Season Of Mist for all of the info.

BASK - Ramble Beyond (Album Review)

Release date: March 24th 2017. Label: This Charming Man Records (EU) / Self Aware Records (US). Format: CD/DD/Vinyl (Vinyl – due for release May 2017).

Ramble Beyond – Tracklisting

Asleep In the Orchard - 7:34

Mush! Carry Me Home -6:57

A Graceless Shuffle - 4:48

The Lonesome Sound - 6:39

Kindled Green - 5:45

In the Black Fir - 7:35

Band Members

Scott Middleton

Jesse Van Note

Ray Worth

Zeb Camp

Review

Bask is a band with the competence and confidence to usher you into a warm, luminescent netherworld with their original style, incredible power and radiant beauty. This album has a farther reach and a more top grade quality than its predecessor, however it doesn’t stray far afield from the band’s sacred heart signature sound. This is a psychedelic hard rock tour through the great American highlands.

This album is never hard to grasp, owing to it’s hearty, polished sound with all the fixings. It reminded me of many warm summer days in the past when I would sit cozily in the backseat of my father’s dilapidated sedan and listen to old 8-tracks on it’s antique tape player...the discovery of splendour, delivered in stereo. The songs are as catchy as the common cold, yet divergent as a strain of influenza.

Asleep in the Orchard is a song of graceful resonances attributed to the lovely glide of elastic fingers along a tolerant fret board. The background is awash with ambient sounds, muscle bound bass and grandiloquent drums. The collective vocal delivery is analogous to pouring several different carafe-filled varieties of preheated maple syrup on eager awaiting waffle squares.

Mush! Carry Me Home is pure transference of energy. The instruments build a great fire as the clement singing rises higher and higher with angelic delight. This is a refreshing dip in a glazed reservoir of rejuvenation; a phenomenon reserved for the giant, mournful, mystical buffalo. This song is a tremendous accomplishment that is expressed in only a short brace of melodic minutes.

A Graceless Shuffle is a buoyant tune. It is an almost cheerful track with flavorings of an uppity and mighty chunk jam at about the halfway mark. The end has some real explosive chemistry with its conjoint lyrical and musical structure.

The Lonesome Sound incorporates guitars that tear you open and cauterize you at the same time. The drums offer quirkiness with a punch and the bass is as fluid as a serene waterfall. The vocals stir emotion and astonish your ears. This is pure harmonious acupuncture.

Kindled Green is a dramatic arrangement of distorted riffs and ever so gracious choral passages. Phosphor burns bright this substance excited through smoky mountain pine tree secretion.

In the Black Fir is a magnificent steed of a song comprised of calm guitar strums, easy leads, and low-level distortion. This stallion reaches its stride without a startle.

Bask is a band that makes a house a home. They reveal a memorable, familiar sound, with an open invitation to join in and form a meaningful relationship with them through a gift…that gift being their own brand of music. It is impossible to ignore this musical offering and, regardless of righteous support, they will remain embraced with their curiosity, avoid frustration and endure along the exultant continuum. 

This is some of the best material written by any band; evidenced through above average songwriting ability, a passionate, lyrical intelligence and heartfelt, musical talent. This is a remarkable demonstration of melodic genius created by a shrewd horde of big-footed giants…behold and bear witness to legends among villagers!

Words by Nick Palmisano

Thanks to This Charming Records for the promo. Ramble Beyond will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via This Charming Man Records (EU) and Self Aware Records (US) from March 24th 2017. Vinyl will be released on May 19^th 2017.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp