News : An exclusive first track from the new Okera album! (updated with pre-order details)

UPDATE: Pre-orders have now gone up over at their newly established Bandcamp page. The digipack edition is limited to 500 copies, and comes with an instant download of “I Hope” (the track below) and “The Black Rain”. Once the release date comes around, you’ll also receive an email with a link to download the album, just in case the mailman takes his time.

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Melbourne’s Okera, comprised of vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Jayme Sexton, guitarist Owen Janusauskas, bassist Chris Bennetto and drummer Elliott Sansom is a band that has their roots firmly grounded in melodic doom metal, though they certainly don’t limit themselves to the one genre. The bands first online release “The Black Rain”, a free online three track demo was fondly received locally and internationally with the title track receiving over forty five thousand views online and airplay on Australia’s national radio station, Triple J. “The Black Rain” was describe to have successfully captured the slow, melancholic death-doom sound of Sweden’s early 90’s period. The new album “A Beautiful Dystopia” produced by Mark Kelson of the renowned dark rock outfit The Eternal and Alternative 4, features both re-recorded versions of the three tracks that featured on the demo along with four new songs which have moments that can be described as haunting, elegant and beautiful.

A Beautiful Dystopia track listing:
1. The Black Rain (9.25)
2. I Hope (5.30)
3. Futility (7.37)
4. In Solitude (6.53)
5. All That’s Lost (7.36)
6. Like Jewels In The Sky (9.18)
7. A Beautiful Dystopia (10.05)

Okera was founded by Jayme in the later months of 2006, inspired by work of bands such as early Opeth, Swallow The Sun, Daylight Dies, My Dying Bride and Shape Of Despair. Songs that were written early on in the bands career such as ‘The Black Rain’ and ‘Futility’ were heavily influenced by the dark, down tempo sounds of death and funeral doom. However, over time, the songwriting has leant more towards melodic death with the newer tracks having a more upbeat feel, while still capturing the bleak and haunting sounds of the death/doom genre.

The first track from the album to be released online will be ‘I Hope’, a perfect example of the new direction the band is heading in. While opening with a more upbeat feel compared to the bands previous work, it remains true to the bands definitive sound with groove-laden riffs, intricate guitar layers, bellowing low vocal lines and stirring passages to create music that is dark, elegant and crushing. “The outro to ‘I Hope’ is one of the darkest and heaviest moments on the record” says the band. “We used vocal and guitar layering a lot on the album to create the most evil sounds we could and the end of I Hope is great example of this”

The album will be launched on Friday May 11 at The Tote where the band will be supported by the French act, Hypno5e along with local bands Arbrynth and Myridian. A limited release of 500 digipack copies will be available for purchase at the show and will be available for preorder in digital and CD format online at okera.bandcamp.com from the 27th of April. Pre-ordering will give fans access to download two tracks instantly. The album will also be available for download on iTunes in the near future. Okera are currently arranging a small amount of interstate shows in the coming months with details being announced closer to the dates.