You best be familiar with Sumac by now, seeing as we’ve been excited about their debut album The Deal since before we even heard a note of music. That’s the benefit of the doubt you give Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom), Brian Cook (Russian Circles, ex-Botch, ex-These Arms Are Snakes) and Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) when they proclaim to the world that they’ll be writing and recording music together. Fortunately their music didn’t fail to meet expectation one bit: the two tracks released so far are both punishers that don’t necessarily sound like the bands for which their creators are best known, but have just enough of a sonic connection to those bands that the lineage as apparent. A hat tip to their forebears, if you will. And that’s the most exciting thing about Sumac: they’ve created an entirely new vibe instead of simply resting on past comforts. It’s not often that so-called “supergroups” do that. The Deal comes out next Tuesday, February 17th, via Profound Lore and SIGE Records
