SEND EMAIL TO
NEWS [AT]
METALSUCKS
[DOT] NET
Shadows Fall’s Paul Romanko: Still without a side project of his own.
So two of the three current Shadows Fall-related side projects both released new music yesterday, and despite the fact that it is not particularly fair to either band, I am lumping these two projects into one post for the sake of my own comfort and convenience. My apologies to all parties involved.
And so…
Back in 2008, legendary metalcore pioneers Overcast — who went on to be in a couple ofsmaller bands you may have heard of, like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage — got back together to re-record some old tunes for a collection called Reborn to Kill Again. When that album was released, I interviewed vocalist Brian Fair (also of the aforementioned Shadows Fall), and I asked him if Overcast might ever write some new music together. His answer?
“We’ve actually talked about it because Pete [Cortese, guitarist] and Mike [D'Antonio, bassist] definitely have ideas for songs. We just have to make sure that they’re Overcast songs, you know? And not just a Pete song. Like I said, it has to be tuned to E and there has to be a mosh part that goes nowhere and there has to be random time changes for no reason. All those things have to be there in order to make it an Overcast song. We’re definitely not opposed to [writing and recording new material]. It may or may not happen, it depends on if the songs are quality.”
Well, I guess somewhere along the way these dudes either decided that these songs are not “Overcast songs,” or otherwise decided that it just wasn’t Overcast without guitarist Scott McCooe and drummer Jay Fitzgerald, or, uh, something else — because the band’s three most famous alumni (In case you’re dumb: D’Antonio went on to join KsE, Cortese went on to join Seemless) are now reuniting to form a new band called Death Ray Vision.
Derek Kerswill is the current drummer for the mighty Unearth, and has also worked with Kingdom of Sorrow, Seemless, Icepick, and, uh, Stryper. So I was curious to hear Tangents, his new, non-metal side project, ’cause, well, I’m always curious to hear the non-metal talented metal dudes make — it always feels like it gives me some deeper insight into where they’re coming from, for lack of a better term.
Well, Noisecreep is now streaming a new Tangents track, “The Pieces Fall,” and while I’m digging the music, which is as catchy as anything you’d get from making out with Tommy Lee, Dave Witham’s vocals just don’t do it for me. I don’t think Witham is a bad singer, from a technical standpoint; which is to say, he doesn’t sound like so much of the autotuned crap I hear these days. They’re just a little too thin. It’s kinda like how when I was a kid, I’d go to the movies and see dudes like Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis, and they were man; now I go see guys like Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, and while they’re certainly talented, they all look kinda like boys, still waiting for the facial hair to come in and their voices to drop. Witham’s vocal style gives me the aural equivalent of that same feeling.
But like I said, the music is good, and I’m sure that, as always, plenty of you will disagree with my assessment. Check out Tangents’ “The Pieces Will Fall” here, and then come back and let us know what you think in the comments section. Tangents’ debut album, One Little Light Year, comes out October 26.
-AR
I’ve given Jesse Leach some shit in the past, mostly because I’m an asshole who just likes to bust balls. But he killed it while playing with KSE a couple of weeks back, and I actually dig his latest band, The Empire Shall Fall. So, y’know. Hugs all around.
TESF just debuted their new video, “Lords of War,” on Noisecreep, and… well, if you’re a Leach fan, check it out. It’s simultaneously heavier and catchier than Seemless was, which is to say, it should appeal more to those of who hold Alive or Just Breathing in such high regard.
And I should have an interview with Jesse up later this week.
-AR
Our friends over at Noisecreep have an interesting new interview with former Killswitch Engage front dude Jesse Leach. The gist of the interview is that he doesn’t regret quitting the band seven years ago, just before they were launched into the metal stratosphere, and much prefers making less money and being in bands no one seems to care about. (Okay, I made that last part up. But still.) Here’s the quote I found really interesting:
“I look at the band now, and I don’t even think twice. There’s no way in my brain I could fathom being on stage, doing what they’re doing. Maybe if it were on my own terms, but from what I’ve seen them do, they’ve kind of taken a goofier route with Adam D… I love it, I get it, I respect it … it’s very punk rock and tongue-in-cheek, but that’s not who I am.”
Of course I love Alive or Just Breathing, but really did not enjoy Leach’s Seemless project. Not even a little bit, not even when I was stoned. So, whatever.
He is now apparently fronting a band called Empire Shall Fall, which is literally a one-word change from one of Leach’s lyrics for “Numbered Days.” Maybe Leach can recruit Kerry King to play guitar for that band, and they can be happily un-goofy together.
-AR
To many fans around the world, Brian Fair is known as the charismatic front man for Shadows Fall, one of the most successful metal bands of their generation. What younger fans might not realize is that Fair actually got his start as the singer of Massachusetts metalcore pioneers Overcast. Every subgenre of metal has an Overcast – a band that splits up before they really hit it big, and whose members go on to form other, better-known acts. (In Overcast’s case, besides Fair’s joining of the Shads, guitarist Pete Cortese went on to form Seemless, while bassist Mike D’Antonio currently plays with some band called Killswitch Engage.)
Of course, the newfound celebrity of Overcast’s members didn’t dampen old fans’ desire to hear their music – or new fans’ curiosity about how some of their favorite musicians got their start. But before disbanding in 1998, Overcast had only released a small handful of recordings on tiny independent labels, making anything other than low-quality bootlegs incredibly difficult to track down.
With that in mind, the band recently released the appropriately titled Reborn to Kill Again (Metal Blade), an Adam D. produced collection of re-recorded classic and several new songs. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Fair about getting Overcast back together again, re-thinking the band’s old material after all these years, and the possible future of the band. And, oh yeah, he was even cool enough to give me a quick update on the status of the new Shadows Fall album. Check out the full transcript after the jump.
