Rick Massie: Gold rush and ethereal end of prog metal.

Whitehorse is the capital and largest city of the Yukon Territory in Canada. With 25,085 inhabitants, the city has 66% of the territory’s population, and is the largest city in Canada’s three territories. The town grew up as a supply base during the Klondike gold rush. Not only supply comes from this town as Ricki Massie hails from Whitehorse and makes exciting music.

Rick Massie offers progressive metal and rock. For fans of Devin Townsend, Enslaved, Andrew W.K. and old Opeth. He will release the album Guided To An Imperfect Light. An album with five long and two short songs.

After a successful digital release, solo artist Rick Massie  is preparing to release Guided To An Imperfect Light on CD on September 30th, 2022. Musically, Guided to an Imperfect Light reaches across the realms of progressive rock, black metal, hard rock, and doom metal, while lyrically, the songs explore themes of unexpected darkness and sadness, and the power of positivity and love.

Rick Massie comments:

«With so much negativity in the world, I want to shine a positive light, or at least a ray of hope, through the music I create. I think of many of the songs as soundtracks to the vast range of emotions of humans as they work through dark times. Getting from darkness to happiness usually involves a chaotic journey of emotions, from despair, to denial, to anger, to frustration, to progress, to hope, and maybe, eventually, happiness».

Inspired by acts such as Devin Townsend, Enslaved, Andrew W.K. and old Opeth, this solo effort is intentionally unconstrained by genre expectation. RICK’s intent is to take metal music and give it free rein to wander far afield into non-metal pastures. The album begins with the powerful opener Once Upon a Time…. Heavy guitars and pounding percussion deliver an explosion of power before gently subsiding to allow soaring synths and vocals to take the prominent role. It’s a dynamic contrast of metal tones and dreamy atmospheres. Counting The Stars descends into darker realms with demonic vocals, speeding riffs and dissonance producing an eerie mood.

The track diverges from its initial path into serene realms with clean guitars, clean vocals and orchestral elements moving away from the darkness. Distorted rhythmic guitar patterns, ethereal vocals and strings emerge from Need while Lullabye ventures on a grand journey through multiple genres and styles over 15 minutes. Vast soundscapes in the interlude Moonlit Hallways add a dramatic theatricality segueing into the ebb and flow of The River. Closing with Unity all elements combine to create a sound with depth, revealing both dark and light, t hat aptly melds the ideas behind Guided to an Imperfect Light.

Falling towards the ethereal end of the prog metal spectrum, Rick Mssie’s song-writing seeks to defy attempts of categorization. Exploring nightmares, dreams and everything in-between, Rick Massie brings to life a compelling ensemble of creative compositions across each track on Guided To An Imperfect Light .

Track List:

1. Once Upon a Time… (3:29)

2. Counting the Stars (11:13)

3. Need (9:54)

4. Lullabye (15:15)

5. Moonlit Hallways (1:32)

6. The River (8:08)

7. Unity (8:30)

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