SIGNMETO ROADRUNNER BAND OF THE MONTH: MEADOWS END

In March we announced our SignMeTo Roadrunner Records contest, in which we’re offering one unsigned band per month the opportunity to have a featured article on MetalSucks in conjunction with Roadrunner’s SignMeTo platform. Check out March’s featured band Spun in Darkness. Now it’s April… it’s nice out, it’s baseball season, and hey! time for another SignMeTo Pick of the Month.

The name Meadows End might ring a bell because I featured them in an Unsigned and Unholy column back in February. My assessment at that time was that they were “epicly dark like Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, Mar De Grises, Swallow the Sun, Daylight Dies, etc” but that they veered a little close to those bands’ patented styles to warrant too much attention. But then a funny thing happened; whilst perusing SignMeTo for this month’s pick, I clicked on Meadows End’s profile without realizing I’d already heard their music… and I instantly recognized the first song. I’ve checked out bands multiple times without knowing it until someone points it out; this even happens with signed bands. But great songs have a way of transcending all else, and the Swedes in Meadows End are most certainly great songwriters. I’ll stick to my guns that these guys aren’t reinventing the melo-doom wheel, but they’ve got hooks for days, and those hooks don’t compromise the band’s heaviness. And I still really dig the way these guys utilize keyboard parts. Check out three songs here.

Want to enter your band for next month’s competition? It’s easy; just sign your band up for a profile at SignMeTo and tag the profile with “metalsucks.” Read the instructions here.