Sevan teams with Worcester's Glue Man Records for EP

Robert Duguay  |  Correspondent
3 hours ago

With a death toll of more than 1.5 million people, the Armenian Genocide is one of the largest examples of systematic mass murder in human history. Happening in the Ottoman Empire, present day Turkey, from 1915 during World War I to 1923, there were death marches into the Syrian Desert, forced deprivation of food and water and periodic instances of robbery, rape and massacres. To this day Turkey denies that the whole thing happened, but all across the world there are memorials to the ones lost during this horrific event. There are three of them in Massachusetts with Armenian Heritage Park in Boston, the Armenian Martyrs Memorial on the grounds of Saints Vartanantz Armenian Orthodox Church in Chelmsford and the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Watertown. In various Armenian families, there have been stories about the genocide passed down from generation to generation.

Sevan teams with Worcester's Glue Man Records for EP

Influenced by these stories, Boston progressive sludge metal act Sevan released its "Guide Me Holy Ararat" EP on Jan. 6 via the Worcester-based label Glue Man Records.

“I’ve known the members of Sevan for a very long time through playing shows with all of them and even playing in a band called Rest with their bassist, Colin McGandy,” label owner AJ Pottle says. “When I started Glue Man Records, I wanted to create a platform for bands making music from our area that also want to contribute positively in their communities. Being an Armenian-American myself, their message really resonated with me and I was honored to be a part of releasing their album.”

The EP was engineered and mixed by Zach Weeks at God City Studios in Salem, while Joe Bicchieri assisted in the production at Remedy Music in Worcester and Brad Boatright did the mastering at Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon. In support of the families dealing with the current state of Armenia, 100% of digital proceeds of the EP will be donated to the My Step Foundation to help support the country's infrastructure and growth.

“I knew I have always wanted to write a record about the Armenian genocide as an Armenian-American,” guitarist and vocalist Luke Chobanian said. “My family’s experiences and stories felt too important to ignore as a topic and I wanted to preserve the oral history through our music all while exploring my Armenian identity. I was very influenced by the sheer weight and horror of the experiences my family went through such as the forced desert marches, watching their children murdered in front of them and the destruction of their homeland in Van and Antep in present day Turkey. These experiences and our ability to thrive as a culture despite nearly being ethnically cleansed gave me the passion to write this record. I was able to reflect on Armenian pride and perseverance on the last song, ‘Kef,’ to wrap up the album.”

“For us, we wanted to donate every cent we could to Armenia, especially during this time of war and conflict in the Artsakh territory,” he adds. “We are seeing behaviors and threats from Turkey and Azerbaijan that could easily spiral out into another genocide. We want to do everything we can to build awareness and help give back. I’ve been following My Step Foundation for the past few years and love their work with addressing multiple issues at once with helping eradicate poverty, build infrastructure and improve public health in Armenia. We thought this would be the best fundraiser for our cause.”

Along with “Kef” closing out the EP, “Bleeding Crescent”, “Desert Walk”, “Eetch” and “Goddess” each are excellent tracks chock full of amplification and intensity. Chobanian’s riffs are thunderous while McGandy’s skills on bass create rock solid rhythms with Sean Thomas on drums. To stream and purchase "Guide Me Holy Ararat" with your money going toward helping vulnerable people, log on to Glue Man Records’ Bandcamp page at .

https://www.worcestermag.com/story/entertainment/2021/01/19/sevan-teams-worcesters-glue-man-records-ep/4202726001/