Mattowarrior's Metal Madness

For the most part though, they follow through on their promise of being retro-minded. The vocals almost remind me of someone like James Hetfield meets Rich Robinson. Hopefully that isn’t an offensive comparison because it works extremely well. It is again, a respite from both the whiny affectations of modern nu metal influenced “active rock” and some of the frankly, contrived vocals that you would hear on radio rock mostly nowadays. “Traaces of Love” follows with a riff that wouldn’t be too far removed from the first Fastway album but with some real arena rock verses added in. Bluesy rock is the name of the game here and it is delivered well. I could almost think of rolling a joint in an old VW van in the seventies under a blacklight poster in the back. Almost reminds me of Foghat now that I mention this. “All That I Wanted”features a feel that almost seems like lounge music in the beginning but goes to a stop start riff that feels like a heavier Nineties post grunge song. N...

Sepsiss are an up and coming female fronted Metal band coming from the distinct woods of the Northeastern United States, that is, Manchester, New Hampshire. The bios of the band members mention everything from Napoleon Hill to Quincy Jones to Motley Crue, Iron Maiden and beyond, so you know you’re bound to get an eclectic mix of elements and attitudes contained in the music. I recently conducted an interview with William Savant, the cofounder, prominent songwriter, and lead guitarist, and this is what he had to say: What does the name signify? (WILLIAM SAVANT : ( composer/guitars / co founder )   The name it self , spelled as it is means nothing in English until it represents something. Being a play off an actual word you might have heard before, certainly helps. We were also keen on the fact if other bands would use the obvious spelling, confusing people, making our version " ownable " google searchable. A title is only as meaningful ...

With a general term such as “Industrial Metal”, it’s risky what the words conjure up when hearing them. A chugfest like Fear Factory? A spastic version of that with Strapping Young Lad? Industrial Black Metal like Mysticum? Slow, Swans style dirges in the vein of Godflesh?  For a subgenre that has been around over 30 years, it’s often an obtuse and sometimes confusing label to give. Of course, having such a varied genre is to it’s benefit, as is in the case of London’s Die Kur. Die Kur are a veteran band that has been around over 20 years and play an often-experimental style of Industrial Metal not cut from the same grain as a lot of the mainstream artists clumped in with that label. Their newest EP, All The Way Down To A New Regime, starts out with an almost Motorheadish (or an even sludgier like mid-period High On Fire) sounding song “The Legacy of the Fox” which also has some Celtic Frost style breakdowns as well. Not too many electronics on this one, but it def...

New Day Revolution are a Michigan outfit, releasing their self-titled EP on June 29th of this year (2019). The first thing I thought from listening to this was something familiar though with some twists. The shouted vocals of frontman Dakota Starr are definitely something that are not common in this style of this style of rock, giving an edge to the proceedings that is refreshing. The music is modern rock with a (seeming) edge of post-grunge and hardcore metal, featuring grungey bludgeoning riffs and some funky solos. There is also a faint sound of Metalcore in there as well, but it’s not overpowering. I can also hear some hardcore style choirs in Protest Song '18, as well as a few dual guitar harmonies.  Back to the vocals though, this is an element that definitely makes the band unique. Reminding one of almost a mix between someone like Roger Miret if he had a touch of Brian Johnson in there, it’s an interesting approach in the least. One would expect considering some of t...

Who says Traditional Metal, or even Power Metal is dead? In fact, in the underground for a few years now there has been a rebirth of sorts with international bands of all sorts known as the “New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal”. Some of the bands do things super traditionally, almost sounding like their albums were recorded in 1983, others spice it up with more modern Power Metal or other influences. One such act making their ascent are Æternal Requiem, Their newest album, Rise, is being set to be released June 11th 2019 (and will be available to purchase, or to stream, from most digital platforms (i.e. Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, etc.) and here's what I thought after taking a listen:  After a cool baroque intro and majestic continuation with electrified instruments (called strangely enough, “intro”) the metal begins with a downtuned riff pattern and somewhat blast beats with orchestral backing. It then continues with a Maidenish beginning or eve...

Manowar are a band that in recent years, have had an unprecedented amount of bad luck and bad will encumber their status of being the “Kings of Metal”. Lawsuits, albums recorded and then outright scrapped, the death of longtime drummer Scott Columbus, re-recordings of some of their classic albums, and..well we’ll leave the other recent big event alone because there’s been plenty of talk of that controversial (as well as devastating) subject. The band has encountered controversy after controversy in recent years, and in many ways, been denigrated to be a running joke in the metal community.   Any regular reader of this blog is probably familiar with many of my takes on the various controversies, and how I view much of their recent trajectory (that is, not so favorably). That said, when it comes to the music, the question on many fan’s minds is what they would do next. After announcing their final tour, they have now decided to release a series of EPs to mark their “fina...

Evestus is an Electronic/Industrial/Rock Band from Estonia who has just released their new EP, Post 18 Depression. I found them to be an intriguing example of a modern band playing a classic sound that exudes atmosphere, attitude, and angst. Here is my recent interview with mainman Ott Evestus, covering a variety of topics: How/When did Evestus start? What was the original impetus for the project? I used to play drums in a few bands and then do vocals in a metal band for some years until I started experimenting with computer music. My first album came out in 2005 called “Destiny In Life” and it's absolutely horrible glitchcore/samplecore experimental piece of work mainly consisting of samples from movies and cartoons.. I decided to call this project after my last name which is Evestus and .. well.. despite this horrible creation I got signed to Canadas Dtrash records and just kept going. I've come quite along way since then haha! Who are your influenc...