After releasing NINE new singles in 2022 from their upcoming album — officially titled “Cosmic Innuendo, Vol. 1: Dark Side of the Ocean” — which includes the radio hits “Bottom of the Barrel” and “What’s Kraken?”, Rusty Shipp have finally released the long-anticipated, full-length concept album to the public on digital streaming and retail platforms.

The album stands as an artistic landmark for the band, being their first full-length concept album to be included in a larger, successive story arc, titled “Cosmic Innuendo.” Aside from occasional nods to the famous Pink Floyd album, the album conceptually emphasizes the balance between dark and light, descent and ascent, men and angels. The first half of the album (21 ½ minutes) called “DESCENT” follows the descent of a drowned sailor sinking past undiscovered creatures and mysteries to the bottom of the ocean where his soul is intercepted by a group of sea angels and taken to their underwater kingdom. The second half of the album (21 ½ minutes) is called “ASCENT” and explores this angelic kingdom, ruled by “Poseidon” the Ocean’s King Archangel. After debating the danger involved, the angels decide to ascend and see why men’s souls are sinking so often from the ocean’s surface, feeling a duty to help these men in the world above the waves, which the angels ironically call “Heaven.”

Following this theme of balance, the songs create a diverse tapestry of eclectic genres (grunge, surf, punk, ska, reggae, metal, acoustic, etc) and innovative artistry, while each song also stands on its own as single-worthy with catchy riffs and melodic hooks that give each a pop commerciality. Beneath the surface of the artistic imagery of sea angels, the philosophical messages in each song reflect the angst and conflict that can clearly be traced back to the climate of 2020, in which the lyrics were written. Yet while confronting the issues of 2020 that tore the world apart, the songs carefully shift the perspective of the listener to the things that will bring us all together again, the real hope that is available to every soul on the planet

Listen HERE: http://www.bit.ly/rs-dsoto

“What’s Kraken?” – Rusty Shipp’s latest single (accompanied with an animated lyric video) — is the response to many of the band’s nautical rock ‘n’ roll fans who have understandably begged the band for a song about the Kraken for years.

Being written in the pandemic though, the song became more of a political and philosophical statement using historical news reports of “The Kraken” as a symbol which challenges our trust in truth released by the authorities, whether that be from the news, government, science, politics, or religion. Truth seems more elusive than ever during these pandemic times, and this song laments that angst while pointing our attention to the timeless truths that have undeniable proof and transcend our current circumstances.

Sonically and melodically reminiscent of grunge and post-grunge era rock in the fashion of Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, etc., “What’s Kraken?” is on Rusty Shipp’s more aggressive side with an obvious punk influence and a Van-Halen-styled guitar solo, but not without the group’s iconic surf-guitar sounds and emphasis on catchy, Beatlesque vocal lines. The single was released with an official lyric video that brings out the message behind the lyrics through animated illustrations. “What’s Kraken?” is taken from the larger story of the upcoming concept album “Dark Side of the Ocean,” which is being released song by song in 2022.

Past Accolades: “Bottom of the Barrel,” the first single from the upcoming album, broke through the Top 25 list on Christian Music Weekly’s Rock chart and rose to #6; it also made it to #3 on RadioU’s Top 10 Most Wanted Songs (per listener requests), and #5 on BigBigHit’s USA National Rock chart.

The music video premiered exclusively for an early release on CCM Magazine and on the CCM Magazine weekly newsletter, and was added to RadioU TV. To promote the single, the band did many interviews for radio and online publications (RadioU, Effect Radio, 102.9FM The Buzz–Nashville’s Rock station, and more).

Continuing the story of Rusty Shipp’s upcoming story-based, concept album “Dark Side of the Ocean,” their latest single “Man Myth Legend” hones in on the band’s surf punk sound that surfaced in former songs such as “Detonator” and “Caligynephobia.” The lyrics are a clearer glimpse into the concept story of the new album which describes an underwater kingdom of angels who encounter the souls of sailors that have sunk down from the surface — such as the narrator in the previous single, “Bottom of the Barrel.” Alarmed at the increasing rate of souls sinking down to their domain at the bottom of the ocean, they decide to risk the potential danger and ascend to the ocean’s surface to find out exactly what is causing the growing frequency of humans’ drowning.

To cut through all the conceptual imagery at the surface and dive in to what this song is really about, singer and founder of the group, Russ T. Shipp, gave the following statement about the underlying message of the song: “All conceptual narrative and nautical imagery aside…this song was written as a response to much of the explosive division that arose during the pandemic. The direct application to life from “Man Myth Legend” is that in our lives we often see glimpses of something troubling, or hear of people doing something dangerous or that seems to be in opposition to something we believe, but we often don’t have the courage to go check out things for ourselves and meet the people involved to get to know them and see what’s actually going on and why those people do what they do. It’s easier and more convenient to try and keep things so cut-and-dry, black-and-white, and just write people off as the enemy. But it’s much harder, riskier work to step into the grey, and give people the benefit of the doubt, and think of them as fellow humans just coming from a different place to get their own needs met. To engage with ‘opponents’ humbly and respectfully, to listen and learn from them about where they’re coming from and why they do what they do, is certainly awkward and uncomfortable, but the rewards of that hard work are greater than the rewards that come from playing it safe in our comfort zones, and indeed the results of that hard work are necessary to our overall survival as people.”

Accolades: “Bottom of the Barrel,” the first single from the upcoming album, broke through the Top 25 list on Christian Music Weekly’s Rock chart making its chart debut at #21. It also was just added to RadioU’s Top 10 Most Wanted Songs (per listener requests), and was added to a rock and metal compilation from For The Rock. The video was premiered exclusively for an early release on CCM Magazine this week and was featured prominently in the CCM Magazine weekly newsletter. To promote the single, the band did many interviews for radio and online publications (Effect Radio, RadioU, 102.9 The Buzz–Nashville’s FM Rock station, and more).

Rusty Shipp is a Nashville-based hard rock band that combines Beatlesque melodies, surf and grunge riffs, and philosophical lyrics to create what they call Nautical Rock ‘n’ Roll.

RUSTY SHIPP

Man Myth Legend (single)

CREDITS

Produced & Engineered by Stephen Leiweke at Yackland Studio in Nashville, TN.

Mastered by Alex McCollough with True East Mastering.

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