The 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War.
With more than one million casualties it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

2007. Nearly half a decade has passed now since the mighty duo Somme first emerged from a Chicago basement, endlessly cultivating, refining and rebuilding the ferocious guitar/drum offensive that's since become their signature sound. Their debut EP, Weight, recorded in one day at Steve Albini's legendary Electrical Audio Studios with revered engineer Greg Norman (High on Fire, Pelican, Mclusky, Magnolia Electric Co.), is a massive battle cry, at once reflecting the bloodsoaked triumphs of the allied forces and the thousands floating dead in the crimson River Somme on the day that remains, 87 years later, the British Army's goriest onslaught in history.

Somme is guitarist Daniel Medina, a 20 year-old chemical worker who spends his afternoons in a gas mask at a nearby plant hauling hazardous and contaminated materials, and drummer Kenny Preski whose mammoth drum sound is the explosive foundation and structural framework of Somme's epic colossus.

Laid to tape in January 2007, with Norman at the decks, Weight is the first of a two-part series of sister recordings, the second of which is planned for release later this year. Due to the band's intense working dynamic, it was essential that their music be captured live to analog equipment. The result is a spectacularly ambitious sonic marvel, owing as much to key influences Spacemen 3, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Slow Riot-era Godspeed You Black Emperor as to the spectres of that brutal 1916 holocaust.

For interviews, contact battleofthesomme@gmail.com.

S O M M E | W E I G H T E P
// 01 : Zeal
// 02 : Massless
// 03 : Forge
// 04 : Anvils
// 05 : Badgebode