NYS Music 202​2

Author: tom hanno

  • London’s Ithaca Unleashes Furious New Single, “They Fear Us”

    Ithaca is a town in New York State, and was originally a place in Greece. However, the Ithaca that we’re here to discuss is a music group from London, whose new album, They Fear Us, will be out July 29th.

    So now that we all know why we have gathered here today, let’s talk about the first single from that album, which is also the title track for They Fear Us.

    ithaca

    The genre tags for this album are a mix of metal and hardcore, with the sub-genres listed as melodic hardcore and emotional hardcore. If you fine readers are aware of hardcore, you’ll know that it is usually based off of slamming riffs, screamed vocals, attitude, and a no holds barred use of power. 

    As the track begins you’ll hear some intense vocal work, and they have a lot of the hardcore sound. The guitar riff is rooted in that genre as well, and has a cool, bouncy feel going on. 

    As things progress there is a heavy Killswitch Engage influence, and that holds through the chorus section too, while the vocals remind me more of the cleans from Miss May I; both of those bands are amazing, so hearing their influence here is a reminder of that, and of how much they really inspired other bands. 

    While the full They Fear Us album won’t be released for another 5 months, we feel that you should go check out the single on Bandcamp today. They may not be breaking much new ground in terms of the genre, but what Ithaca put together is quite good, and we eagerly anticipate their next release.

  • NYC Horror Punk outfit Cut Like This drop catchy new single “The Boogeyman”

    NYC is a melting pot of musical genres, and is the breeding ground for some of the most creative acts that our country has to offer. There’s everything from horror punk, thrash, doom, stoner, and much, much more. One of those genres is called horror punk, and within that genre tag is Cut Like This, a band who have recently released a single for their incredibly catchy song, “The Boogeyman.”

    Cut Like This

    Cut Like This features Rose Blood on vocals, guitarist Thorn Black, and Corey Carver on bass guitar; together they take influence from artists like Wednesday 13, Shulla, Phantasmagoria, In This Moment, Dir En Grey, Korn, Nothingface, Jack Off Jill, and many more.  

    When asked about this new song, Rose Blood says:

    “The Boogeyman” was really fun to write and we tried a lot of new things with this track, including adding synths to it, as well as collaborating with our friend Xian Murder of the Amatory Murder, who helped us record it and helped produce it. It was inspired by my real life issues with insomnia, with mythologies and films centered around the idea of the Boogeyman, especially our favorite Boogeyman of all, Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm street.

    Rose Blood, Cut Like This

    The synth work is something that fans of their self titled first album will consider new, but their addition helps to give Cut Like This a fuller sound, and is a perfect compliment to what they are doing in “The Boogeyman.” 

    Aside from the addition of synth, one of the most notable influences stems from Wednesday 13, whose work with Joey Jordison in the Murderdolls, and as a solo artist, helps to fuel “The Boogeyman;” it’s difficult to not hear that influence on the vocals and guitar riffs.

    “The Boogeyman” is a cool horror punk song, and if you like the original you should also check out the remix done by Angelspit. You can find the original here, and the remix link is also available for viewing below. So get on it, and show Cut Like This some love by liking and following them on all of their social media accounts.

  • Hearing Aide: The Final Sleep “Vessels Of Grief”

    New York State has some of the finest bands in the U.S. From Clouds Taste Satanic, to Diluted, Wasted Space to Caustic, and Less than Hate, NYS knows how to throw down a heavy riff or three. With that in mind, our focus today is on a band from Troy, the immensely talented The Final Sleep.

    The Final Sleep

    The Final Sleep is a five piece that features founding members of Arsis (drummer Mike Van Dyne), Burning Human (bassist Jason Van DerVoort and guitarist Mike Stack), and Withstand (guitarist Kevin Maloney) joined by Jeff Andrews (guitar and vocals). Together they utilize melody, heavy riffs, sizzling lead guitar work, expertly performed vocals, and a ton of power in order to get their message across; they also throw in some progressive elements to bring their music up to new levels. Their upcoming album, Vessels of Grief, is due out February 4th.

    I was shocked as I listened to Vessels of Grief for the first time, mainly because The Final Sleep hits upon several different genres, and manages to keep the record cohesive despite that. I can hear influences from viking metal, dark melodic metal like Witherfall, death metal, hardcore, and a bit of black metal; the band specifically states that they take influence from Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Control Denied, Amorphis, and Mercyful Fate/King Diamond.

    The first single is called Screaming in Silence, and it’s easy to see why they chose this one to lead off with; it’s heavy, the vocals are incredible, and it has a serious Witherfall vibe thanks to those excellent vocals. A huge selling point for me are the heavy vocals, which ride the line between death metal and your standard metal vocals. 

    Tracks four and five, Soul in Between and Funeral Seed respectively, are everything that I love about heavy metal. The band utilizes a diverse approach in both tracks by incorporating dark and light, heavy and melodic, and it all hits like a ten ton hammer of awesomeness. There also seems to be a splash of black metal, particularly in Funeral Seed, but only as coloring for an already amazing piece of art; this one also has that Witherfall feel in its slower, clean sections, and in how the vocals are performed during them. 

    I would highly recommend The Final Sleep to any metalhead out there, without even taking their genre of choice into consideration, because Vessels of Grief hits so many sweet spots, and uses influences that are far ranging. This album will be one of New York’s finest metal releases.

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