Black Tar Prophecies, Vols. 1, 2, & 3

"I still hear a band of ragtag improvisers, engaged in a heavy channeling of Americana that fuses Henry Flynt or Tony Conrad with the smoldering remains of Black Sabbath. Who can't dig that?" - DUSTED

At the start of 2005, Grails returned to the U.S. from a month-long European tour. Stepping off the plane, most of the band walked in one direction and the violinist strayed off in another. It ended up being the last time most anyone would see or talk to him again. A bandmate of five years had vanished, existing thereafter only in the form of vague rumors. As the varied reports of brief encounters and sightings grew stranger and darker, the band started a series of recordings called Black Tar Prophecies. The remaining members had particular dissatisfactions with how the band had been grouped into the innocuous, contemporary post-rock movement. This frustration, combined with newly liberated instrumental roles, introduced new possibilities for their sound.

In this way, the collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor sixties and seventies experimental artists who saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music.

Black Tar Prophecies is Grails' third full-length recording (and their first since leaving Neurosis label Neurot). Seven of the nine tracks were released in small, highly sought-after pressings of 12" vinyl on two European labels. Important is now proud to release Black Tar Prophecies in its complete form, including two tracks not available on the vinyl releases.