Mattowarrior's Metal Madness

Today I'm going to be reviewing the Slovenian Instrumental Metal Project, Isphet, who have just released their new album, Escape Room (Below this written review is a video version). This cool album has a lot to offer a variety of fans of different types of metal and has atmosphere and depth in spades.  Escape Room's first song, "Fixated",starts with a heavy angular but melodic riff that brings the pain as it chugs along. The riff almost feels like a groovier version of something Dino Cazares would come up with in his prime. It then settles down to some Phillip Glass-esque arpeggios sans drums and bass and then going to a more melodic section with some very modern sounding but well done harmonies. The next song, "No Hearts In Here",starts with some cool ambient guitars and keyboards then a cool groovy riff with some great crisp drumwork and then alternating with a section much like the intro and then bringing the heaviness back, a cool trick that has a dreamy...

Kebras is a project that recently came to my attention. As a one man band essentially, it surprised me with it's depth and complexity as well as riffs. Being a longtime fan of Symphonic Metal, Extreme Metal, and Technical Metal, it should satiate fans of all three. I recently interviewed the mainman of this project, and here is what he had to say:  I just listened to the EP and it definitely surprised me. Tons of shred and awesome dark heavy riffs everywhere. I heard a plethora of different influences ranging from Black Metal to Melodic Death Metal and beyond. Who are you main influences? First of all, thank you for your words! I have a ton of influences: soundtracks from movies like Matrix, from old classic action movies, extreme electronic music like dutch and german Gabber, Darkstep, Drum ‘n’ Bass, classical music, traditional/ethnic music/instruments like the Indian Tabla and Turkish Bağlama, – as for Metal, my tastes range from Anaal Nathrakh, Spawn Of Possession, Meshuggah, I...

  (For the video version of this review, check at the bottom of this article). Banshee are a Hardcore/Metalcore band from upstate New York who have just released their new E.P., Events Occur In Real Time. The first thing that stood out to me with this band, as the album started, was that the band was drawing upon an earlier version of this music in some ways. I am a huge fan of “Melodeath” and the “Swedish Scene” from the Nineties that included At The Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquility, and others, but alas, the bands who usually play the style Banshee are lumped in with usually cannibalize the Melodeath scene to an extent that is outright sickening at times. Fortunately, in a refreshing way, Banshee goes back in some ways to bands like Earth Crisis or Vision Of Disorder. It's cool hearing a band that isn't always repeating something Dimebag or Jesper Stromblad invented 25 years ago for a change. “Terror Bird” is the first song. And features dissonant parts and spastic rhy...

Sound Goat Project is a progressive metal/rock band from Poland. I don't know if the name is related to the term “greatest of all time” (aka G.O.A.T) but nevertheless, the name does give an image to the eclectic nature of the project's music. Their newest release, Deep Inside, (or would that be “dEEP iNSIDE” considering how the songs are listed their Bandcamp site), starts out with one of the most unexpected things that one would imagine as far as an album like this. A full “smooth jazz” sax solo starts the proceedings on the song, “hOT pLAY”. I know a lot of readers of this blog may be mixed on horned instruments in Metal, but it definitely works. Don't expect some cheesy 80's Aerosmith song, or some cheesy Kenny G thing, it definitely works. The song then goes to a slightly (just slightly make no mistake) Djent sounding riff pattern with some more smooth fusiony guitar licks. It then goes to a more melodic refrain and almost 70's style Prog patterns...

Recently I was turned on to the musical project, Eleandre, a project which is dark, mystical, and alluring in a way that transcends mere genre labels or preconceived notions. Mattowarrior's Metal Madness recently got to interview it's main man Ludovic, and here's what he had to say: So tell me about Eleandre- how was the project formed? Eleandre is the addition of both my daughters' names. Without them, none of this could have happened. So first of all I want to dedicate this whole musical project to them. Eleandre is a solo project that I have been leading since May 2020, with the main concept of doing everything myself (voice, guitar, bass, synths and effects, songwriting and also recording). Eleandre is therefore a kind of Siamese concept between my daughters and me, it's a way for me to realize myself and also to support the fact of being far from them, it's in a way a catalyst of my difficulty to live without them. My music is mainly inspired by thi...

Critical Assembly is a band with an eclectic palette of influences in metal. Ranging from thrash to Melodeath, and even some Metalcore and Blackened Death Metal perhaps, they seem to draw from a unique well. Their new Self-titled EP is being released on 3/6/2020 and is a full demonstration of this breadth. The first song, "17 Months", has this plethora of influences located in it's textures for sure. Featuring growls, barks, and some unique clean vocals that almost remind me of Serj Tankian a bit in it's delivey, it's a cool song that goes different places. The second song, Moonwalk Backflip, starts out much more like the denizens that have called bands like At The Gates, In Flames, or Killswitch Engage as influences. Somehow though, as cynical as I have been about the Metalcore scene in general, the harsh vocals don't have the annoying quality that I usually see in Metalcore influenced stuff. It then goes back into more melodious fashion and into clean v...

In this installment of Mattowarrior's Metal Madness, we are going to not be reviewing a traditional “album” per se, but reviewing a soundcloud account with various songs, an EP if you will (reviewing songs). As the market increasingly (other than the vinyl resurgence) is oriented towards streaming, this may be the future of some of these reviews. The artist in question in Mike Brandon Band, is a band featuring the self described “greasy rocker/bluesman/songwriter”, Michael Brandon on guitar and vocals, Ethan Sawchyn on guitar, Jon Olcott on bass, and Scotty Roland on drums with numerous special guests littered throughout the songs. The first song I listened to was “Badlands”, since I am familiar with the Metal Church classic being one of my favorites, I said “why not”? Of course, this is not a cover of the song in question, but rather an original one, a countrified rockabillly-ish ditty with earnest but soulful vocals. It goes back and forth with this into a Southern Rock ...