Appalachian troubadours U.S. Christmas will be releasing 'Run Thick in the Night,' their fifth album, this fall via Neurot Recordings. The band, whose quirky name is pulled from the 1973 Sam Peckinpah film 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,' peddle a "unique brand of psychedelic, high-volume blues rock," according to their bio, but the description sells U.S. Christmas short. The new album, recorded by in-demand engineer Sanford Parker (Unearthly Trance, Samothrace, Nachtmystium, Pelican, Twilight), is breathtaking in its expansive, haunting, and cinematic composition, defying lazy attempts at classification.

U.S. Christmas have been busy lately, especially since their third album, 'Salt the Wound,' caught the ears of Neurosis' Scott Kelly a few years ago, leading to USX being tapped to support Neurosis at one of two now-legendary shows at Brooklyn's Masonic Temple in early 2008. Later that year, U.S. Christmas released their fourth LP, 'Eat the Low Dogs,' on Neurosis' proprietary label, Neurot.

Since then, USX have toured Europe with Oakland thrashers Saviours, performed at the third incarnation of the Neurosis-curated Beyond the Pale show at the Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands, and toured the United States with Earthless, Baroness and Weedeater, among others. The band's six permanent members are varied in their tastes and experiences and the variety of instrumentation employed includes synthesizers, violin, theremin and various percussion in addition to the usual suspects of guitars, vocals and drums. For a recent tour, USX were joined by Minsk drummer Tony Wyioming, who contributed hand percussion to their already-diverse sound.

'Run Thick in the Night' is out this fall via Neurot.

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