After 2006, it was uncertain if there would be another Howlin Rain record. Well, at least in the mind of the musical world at large.

For Ethan Miller, the group’s founder, visionary, songwriter and singer, the collapse of the original line-up was just a set back. There was no licking of wounds, no uncertainty. Miller simply went back to the formula he used after first conceiving Howlin Rain during a winter storm at his cabin on the Eel River: write a batch of undeniable songs, gather his talented friends and create a signature musical language.

The result is Magnificent Fiend. And while Magnificent Fiend has all of the sonic attack, tattooable melodies and rich, organic rock from the first record, it carries with it a depth of arrangements and playing that takes the music to new, ecstatic heights. It is a celebration of all involved, of the time we live in, and the Fiends it honors.

Ethan Miller sprang into the underground rock world with his band COMETS ON FIRE. Comets quickly came to the forefront of what would come to be defined as “The New Weird America”, a movement that darkly combined elements of Folk, heavy psychedelia, free formed existentialism, and atonality. A joyful noise comprises a Comets show, with Miller’s vocals being driven through an echoplex and re-shaped at will by fellow member Noel Von Harmonson. While Comet’s chaotic wall of sound is a feat of architecture and a beloved aspect by the fans, Miller had another voice and musical path calling through the sonic maelstrom.

In 2004, he formed Howlin Rain with fellow New Weird America icon John Maloney, leader of Sunburned Hand Of The Man. The vision was a type of music originally defined in the free and easy era of the early 70s; organic, melodic groove oriented rock (Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead) combined with sensational songwriting but re-invigorated with a sonic bite and controlled chaos that hurls it into the modern times. Together, with fellow Humboldt County native Ian Gradek on bass, the band recorded what became the first self-titled Howlin Rain record.

After the dissolve of the first Howlin Rain Miller began to write a new album and put together a new group. Gradek stayed, along with Humboldt guitarist Mike Jackson, who had already joined the Rain for their U.S. tour. The new line-up was rounded off by drummer Garrett “Turtle” Goddard (Cuts, Colossal Yes), who brought an essential flow and driving, rolling groove to the new sound, and Joel Robinow (Drunk Horse) on keys, horn, piano, guitar, organ and backing vocals, who added a new level of chops and firepower to the Howlin Rain sound. Be prepared for the Magnificent Fiend revolution.