“Guided to an Imperfect Light” is a dark (and at times joyous and inspiring) soundtrack to the complexities of day-to-day life, experiences and emotions. This is Rick Massie’s second album, the follow-up to 2020’s “Eclipse”. Musically, it reaches across the realms of progressive rock, black metal, hard rock, and doom metal. Lyrically, the songs explore themes of unexpected darkness and sadness, loss (and hope for the future), struggles to move forward, and the need for self-care and wellness, and the power of positivity and love. And most of all – hope – and the belief that even in the darkest of times, things will get better.
Rick says:
“The album is partly inspired by the long, dark winter days. However, it’s also inspired just as much by the bright rays and deep blues of sun shining at -40 degrees – the kind of light that seeps deep into your soul.”
“This album isn’t too much of a departure from my first album, “Eclipse”. However, it definitely refines the vision, and feels less scattered. With “Eclipse” I ventured into many unknown musical territories – but with “Guided to an Imperfect Light” I reined in the experimentation and created a musical journey that blurs the lines between prog, rock, doom and black metal. And often, all those genres occur within the same song.”
“This time around, I experimented more with vocal styles and techniques. There’s a lot more backing vocals and harmonies, and some pop-rock inspired vocal patterns that just seemed to fit perfectly over a crunchy seven string. It certainly doesn’t sound like pop music, but I had been listening to so much Marianas Trench and the Darkness that I found some of their influences creeping in, but without turning the album into a pop-metal record. The influences are subtle, but they’re there, if you listen closely.”
Email: Massierick@hotmail.com
Phone: 867-334-3001
Rick Massie can be found:
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