“It’s really exactly what you want from a musical artist”, Heavy Blog is Heavy wrote about the band’s previous album, “a group of people creating their own sound that isn’t aping anyone”.
The climb to reach album number four wound up taking the Asheville natives on one hell of a trip. But The Turning takes Bask’s homebrewed Heavy Americana to a new dimension. While its lead single starts with boots firmly planted in familiar metallic pastures, “Dig My Heels” leaps into the great beyond thanks to a gentle nudge from the band’s newest member.
“We’ve been through so many trials and tribulations together over the past five years”, Bask says. “We were knocked down by COVID, then by Hurricane Helene. Seeing this album finally come to light is therapeutic for us. The Turning is Bask at our finest. It’s our most cohesive and heartfelt effort, an ode to our mountain home in the sky”.
Watch the video for lead single “Dig My Heels”.
The Turning comes out August 22, 2025 on Season of Mist.
Pre-order & Pre-save
https://orcd.co/basktheturning
To kick off this heavy and heady new frontier, Bask are touring the East Coast later this summer. Hear them play “Dig My Heels” and other songs from The Turning during the album’s opening run out on the road.
The Turning 2025 East Coast Tour
August 20 – Atlanta, GA @ 529
August 21 – Savannah, GA @ El Rocko
August 22 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
August 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Chapel of Bones
August 24 – Richmond, VA @ Fuzzy Cactus
August 26 – Philadephia, PA @ MilkBoy
August 28 – Searsport, ME @ Starboard Lounge
August 29 – Providence, RI @ Parlour
August 30 – Wallingford, CT @ Cherry Street Station
August 31 – Boston, MA @ O’Briens
For as long as they’ve been together, Bask have called The Land of the Sky home. “We’ve been a band longer than we’ve been with our spouses”, says bassist Jesse Van Note. The Turning is still rooted in Appalachia’s rugged terrain. The album was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording with producer and fellow Asheville fixture Kenny Harrington, who’s also worked alongside Manchester Orchestra. “Dig My Heels” quickly settles into a sunbaked groove with riffs that are as chiseled as red clay. But once drummer Scott Middleton takes the reins, the band’s new single bounds off in a proggier direction.
“This song stemmed from Scott calling me out”, laughs guitarist Ray Worth. Instead of following Worth’s headbanging leads, the band let Middleton’s sideways gallop be their guide. “There’s nothing wrong with playing in 4/4”, Middleton acknowledges, “but if you’re not exploring, then you’re missing out on a world of opportunity”. As “Dig My Heals” rounds the corner into the chorus, what should appear but a country field of paisley countermelodies.
“We all like heavy music and half us grew up around folk and bluegrass”, says vocalist and co-guitarist Zeb Wright, “but The Turning leans into that mix even further”.
Despite the global pandemic and a natural disaster hitting their hometown, Bask have grown by literal leaps and conceptual bounds on The Turning. While they’ve have always been a tight-knit group, this is the band’s first album to welcome Jed Willis as an official member. Granted, Willis was already part of their orbit, having put a bow on their last album and chipped in on tour with merch and driving duties. But while a light touch, his reassuring presence launches “Dig My Heels” into the stratosphere. Floating amidst a constellation of twinkling chimes and keys that fall like stardust, his pedal steel softly swirls with all the colors of the Milky Way.
“That part just sort of flowed out of me”, Wright says about the single’s mesmerizing middle section. “It was when we were working on ‘Dig My Heels’ that I first asked Jed to lay some steel down on this record. But after hearing how he opened up a new dimension within this song, I felt like we could have him play all over The Turning. The songs were twangy but also spacier and more psychedelic than anything we’ve done before”.
“These guys have become friends and brothers to me over the past decade or so”, says Willis. “Our music journeys have become intertwined, creating a solid and welcoming foundation that made my transition into the band feel like a natural next step for all of us”.
Adding a headier dose of heaviness also influenced the concept behind The Turning. The album’s story arc truly straddles the fence between cosmic and country with a 40-minute saga that spans not only genres but generations in man’s never-ending quest for immortality. “Dig My Heels” marks its first major turning point. “When you’re riding with death / no one’s following“, remarks its mysteriously ageless gunslinger before riding off into the intergalactic void with our spurred heroine in hot pursuit. But despite being admittedly “out there”, the album’s dwellings on family, aging, death and rebirth hit close to home. Cosmic scale tipped by Van Note’s heaving bass line, the song ends by crashing down with all the supernatural force of a waterfall on Mars.
“The Turning was a challenge”, the band says, “but we weathered the storm and came out the other side with a beautiful album that sounds like Bask”.
The video for “Dig My Heels” was created by Humanoire.
More praise for Bask
“Such a knack for expressive music is Bask’s bread and butter” – Angry Metal Guy
“This is the kind of band you want to see grow. Join the party now” – Heavy Blog is Heavy
“The entire thing rocks your socks off with gripping guitar riffing” – Metal Bite
“… a remarkable demonstration of melodic genius created by a shrewd horde of big-footed giants…behold and bear witness to legends among villagers!” – Outlaws of the Sun
“…undeniably both infection and innovative” – Metal Storm
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