Tiktaalika (Haken’s Charlie Griffiths), launches digital deluxe version of ‘Gods Of Pangaea’
Haken guitarist Charlie Griffiths recently returned with a follow-up to his 2022 solo album. This time Charlie assumes the moniker ‘Tiktaalika’ and presents ‘Gods of Pangaea’. Today he is pleased to launch a special digital deluxe version of the album, including instrumental versions of all the albums tracks. Listen now here: https://tiktaalika.lnk.to/GodsOfPangaea-Deluxe
Charlie comments: “The instrumental mixes offer a peak behind the scenes of Gods of Pangaea. You can hear details in Nolly’s drums, bass and guitar mixing that inevitably end up taking a back seat to the vocals. Rightfully so I might add! I’m still blown away by the incredible vocal performances Tommy, Daniel, Vlad, Rody and Neil delivered and they deserve the spotlight.
I’m a huge fan of vocals and lyrics, but I also love hearing the inner workings of my favourite songs in as much detail as possible, so I hope Tiktaalika fans will appreciate this too. You can also use these for karaoke!”
Watch a special playthrough video of the albums opening track ‘Tyrannicide’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUBoS3SdZMk
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. Of the creative process Charlie explains, “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 sees Charlie joined by drummer Darby Todd (Devin Townsend) and bassist Conner Green (Haken). He is also helped by a collection of some of the best vocalists in the business, with 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”, comments Charlie, “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!”
The full track-listing is as follows:
- Tyrannicide feat. Daniël de Jongh 3:54
- Gods of Pangaea feat. Daniël de Jongh 8:36
- The Forbidden Zone feat. Vladimir Lalić 5:52
- Mesozoic Mantras feat. Vladimir Lalić 6:32
- Fault Lines feat. Rody Walker 6:30
- Give Up The Ghost feat. Daniël de Jongh 5:15
- Lost Continent feat. Tommy Rogers 9:12
- Chicxulub 7:31 (Bonus Track on CD & Digital)
The album was mixed by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and mastered by Tony Lindgren at Fascination Street studios. The album is available as a Limited CD Edition (incl. 1 bonus track), Gatefold LP & as Digital Album.
Watch the video for ‘Lost Continent’, featuring Tommy Rogers of Between the Buried and Me, here: https://youtu.be/vDBbbjIkg0w?si=Pw6FV6JvUoN8oTyc
Watch the video for the title track of ‘Gods Of Pangaea’ featuring Daniël de Jongh of Textures here: https://youtu.be/8Q4oJETGecE
Watch the video for ‘Fault Lines’ featuring Protest The Hero’s Rody Walker here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ORVX3E9BI
CHARLIE GRIFFITHS online:
https://www.instagram.com/charliegriffithsguitar/
https://www.youtube.com/c/CharlieGriffiths
https://www.facebook.com/charlie.griffiths.guitarist
https://twitter.com/c_griffiths
https://linktr.ee/charliegriffiths
INSIDEOUTMUSIC online:
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