Opeth bassist Martin Mendez is about to unleash his version of death metal upon the world. Mendez has announced his new band White Stones alongside the debut album Kuarahy due out March 20. Kuarahy was written during Opeth's year-long break after their extensive Sorceress touring schedule, said Mendez, adding that he feels White Stones has "renewed my strength and energy."
"I’ve always written music at home but never had the confidence to do anything like this. I never wrote a song, never presented something I wrote for Mikael (Åkerfeldt, Opeth singer/songwriter). I didn’t have any direction, I came up with the first song for fun. White Stones has nothing to do with Opeth, I see no relation between the two. I played Kuarahy to Mikael a few months ago, he really liked it and was happy for me. Everyone in the band has side projects, it’s important. We tour so much you can become consumed by it; it has been really nice to do something different. White Stones has renewed my strength and energy."
Mendez also reveals the project is strongly connected to his birthplace in Uruguay.
"I feel strongly connected to Uruguay still. I wanted to write music related to that – the sun on the Uruguayan flag I transformed into the White Stones logo; there are a lot of small things that connect the record to that place. Kuarahy is the native Uruguayan people’s word for ‘Sun’."
Expect some White Stones music soon.
