The Pilgrimage marks the Sonic Unyon metal debut by Calgary, Alberta noise-doom duo Mares of Thrace. Formed in 2009 by jazz-trained drummer Stef MacKichan and baritone guitarist Thérèse Lanz in their ongoing quest for musical supremacy, the band traveled from Alberta to Chicago’s Engine Studios to record the follow up to their 2010 critically acclaimed debut album The Moulting with producer Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium, Pelican, Yob). Since forming in 2009, the band has already logged more than 14,000 miles of touring across Canada and the USA and has received many rave reviews from noted publications such as Decibel, Terrorizer, Blabbermouth and PopMatters. The Moulting was the #1 most played metal album at Canadian college radio for the month of August 2010 and it ended 2010 as the eleventh most played for the year. The writers of the Canadian metal zine Hellbound.ca also voted the album the best Canadian metal album of 2010. Mares Of Thrace is not the first group the two have played in with each other. “Stef and I have been playing together for ten years,” says Lanz. “This is our third project together. Each one had successively less and less members (and more and more amps)." The duo finally became a two-piece after their bass player, Lanz’s sister, retired to start a family. “We couldn’t bear to replace her,” says Lanz, who also claims a strong conviction that modern guitar rigs render a bass player obsolete anyway due to their covered frequencies. There was no trend or gimmick followed here, just a desire to continue playing together. The ten tracks contained within The Pilgrimage perfectly captures the intensity and fury that these two create together as a unit. “It contains no bass guitar and no standard sized guitar,” explains Lanz. “I played all of my parts on my baritone. I have a baritone guitar that was custom-built for me by Kurt Ballou of Converge that contains a guitar and a bass pickup.” Mares of Thrace will hit the road again in late April on a thirty date North American tour in support of their new album.