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Bell<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\"> is the &#8221;soul without the machine&#8221;&#8230; A creative, and innovative journey of pioneering vocalist Burton C. Bell. Their latest recording <i>Apocrypha<\/i> is a vision untold.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Born of life, love, and spirituality, Bell&#8217;s unmistakable, harmonious inventory once renowned in one of metal&#8217;s finest pioneering acts has brought life to a new concept, a genre of it&#8217;s own.\u00a0Ambient atmospheres, melodies, and introspective lyrics that shed light of Bell&#8217;s visions, as seen in their purest form&#8230; An intimate nature that <strong>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/strong> envisioned, to draw the minds, hearts, and aspirations of a people to a higher level of thinking to a feeling with cohesive celebration and reflection in the beauty of existence&#8230;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In early 2002, Bell retreated to the quiet, simplicity of rural Pennsylvania for seven months with his friend and musical confidant John Bechdel, escaping the onslaught of Los Angeles, and industry alike. A mentor in music, philosophy, and demeanour, Bechdel unwittingly guided Bell along the creative path of this new conceptual movement. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">With Bell&#8217;s unprecedented vocal sound and style, coupled with the brilliantly orchestrated musical compositions of both Bell and Bechdel (synonymous with pioneering tags to the industrial\/metal genre), the pair began experimenting with textured melodies of melancholic tones, best attributed to the &#8217;80s and &#8217;90s underground scene. <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b> echoes the sounds of a prophetic hallucination, fears, and dreams with remorse of things lost and forgotten, but with a hope of redemption and light in the future.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In 2004, <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b> independently released <i>Iconoclast<\/i>,issued in limited quantities on CD and vinyl. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In 2008, with the help of Bechdel and Paul Raven (RIP), Burton brought <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b> to Ministry legend Al Jourgensen&#8217;s label, 13th Planet. With the guidance and special collaborations with Jourgensen during the recording and mixing in El Paso, Texas, <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b> added the guitar talents of Eduardo Mussi. It also featured Paul Raven&#8217;s last contribution as a bass player on the track &#8220;Mars Becoming.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Later that year, <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b>&#8216; debut LP, <i>Numinosum<\/i>, was released through 13th Planet. Upon release, <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b> performed special, intimate shows, including the album release performance at Alex Grey&#8217;s Chapel Of Sacred Mirrors in New York. They also had the privilege of supporting Killing Joke on their reunion tour in honor of their fallen friend, Paul Raven.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In 2017, the friendship between renowned UK solo artist Jayce Lewis and Burton brought in the essential camaraderie, talents, and studio that perfectly suited the recording of <i>Apocrypha<\/i>.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Northstone Studios, based in the countryside of South Wales, connected to the two-hundred-fifty year old Court Colman Manor, was built by Lewis&#8217; own hands using the ancient stones of the monastery that once stood there. The rustic detail proved a perfect setting for Lewis to record, produce, and mix the <i>Apocrypha <\/i>album. It was a recording process that literally stirred the souls that remain within the stone walls of Northstone. During the vocal recordings of the title track, a recording was inadvertently captured from the aether; an eerie, unrecognizable, and untranslatable, syllabic phrase whispered within the vocal booth. The event is now the intro to the title track, &#8220;Apocrypha.&#8221;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">In truth, the making of <i>Apocrypha<\/i>has been a decade long journey of writing and recording, from California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wales. In 2018, the band decided to utilize the crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic to jumpstart the project. After a very successful campaign, raising 124% of their goal, PledgeMusic went into administration, eventually declaring bankruptcy and in turn, would never release any of the funds dedicated to <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b>. Nevertheless, the band persevered to complete the album.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">After ten years of writing and recording, along with reflection on the very personal nature of this project, <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS <\/b>will renew its journey in 2020 with the culmination of the long awaited <i>Apocrypha<\/i>. With plans of conceptualized touring, the band continues to grow as Bell&#8217;s main creative endeavor, well into the future.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Further details on <b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS<\/b>&#8216;<i> Apocrypha <\/i>will be released in the weeks to come. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><i>&#8220;From them I heard all things, and understood what I saw, that which will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period, on account of the elect.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><i>All shall be afraid, and the Watchers be terrified.&#8221; &#8212; The Book Of Enoch<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><b>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS: <\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Burton C. Bell &#8211; vocals, guitar<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">John Bechdel &#8211; keyboards<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Jayce Lewis &#8211; drums, backing vocals, programming<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/files.constantcontact.com\/28b23da7301\/c44d9878-9e61-4409-a365-c52dfb400e4a.jpg\" width=\"582\" name=\"ACCOUNT.IMAGE.6082\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"5\" \/>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS: Multinational Gothic Rockers Sign With Dissonance Productions; Second Full-Length, Apocrypha, To See Release October 9th &#8220;These are the sounds that resonate through my mind&#8230; These are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,245,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-musical-theatre","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}