Toronto’s ITUS, features heavy, brooding and psychedelic tones on their new album!

Early in 2019, ITUS was formed by Brandon Lucking (guitars) and Reinier Vandenbosch (vocals), who, at the time were in another band with a different style but wanted to try something new, resulting in these Ontario boys blending doom and stoner rock with crushing heavy metal passages, in a psychedelic atmosphere of horror influenced sounds.

They began with a handful of demos that Lucking recorded in his apartment, in the autumn of 2018. Shortly after they began recording the demos as an EP with Luc Chiasson at his studio. At that time, they had opted for a studio drummer and thus hired Jackson Ward from Strata Recordings to perform/record the drums on the EP. The vibe of the EP is very “off the cuff” so to speak, which comes through naturally since a lot of the songwriting was experimentation that was finalized in the studio.

The writing process is fairly simple for ITUS, Lucking writes the melodies as they come to him, and Vandenbosch writes the vocals and lyrics. When Lucking has a song idea, he records a demo for it with guitars and bass and programmed drums at home. A lot of time is spent figuring out the right tones for the guitars and bass. With a near-complete song in a demo, Lucking sends that to Vandenbosch who works on lyrics, vocal phrasing, and vocal harmonies. The foundation of the lyrics always starts from personal experience, traumas, and how events in life unfold which are further imbued with influence from science fiction and horror fiction, mythology, dark philosophy, and political angst.

The soundscape of horrors that ITUS paints is enthralling already as a two-piece online project, and there are plans on the horizon to build it into a full-on touring 3 piece band delivering an energetic and abrasive live experience with a heavy, brooding ambiance.

ITUS’ debut EP “Primordial” was released on March 13, 2020.



About the EP explained by the band:
‘Primordial’ is intended to be the first of 2 Eps that will culminate into a full length album, and it will be the ‘heaviest’ and darkest sounding release we do with this album cycle. The songs focus around aggressive, dark and primal concepts. Coming from our death metal roots as musicians, we think that this EP will manage to ensnare those who are into heavier music, as well as attract other listeners who may not be so into death metal and related genres. The clean vocals and bright lead guitars really lighten up the darker, heavier passages of the songs. Reinier’s aggressive, chortling screams and yelling portrays an unhinged, brooding darkness, sure to keep listeners on the edge of their seats.

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Track Listing:
1. Cloud Reader (3:17)
2. Question Everything (4:16)
3. Primordial (4:13)
4. This Can’t Be (4:19)
5. The Chaplain (5:43)
EP Length: 21:50

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Tags:  Itus, Canada, New Album, Heavy Metal, Teddy

Teddy    May 08, 2020