(Pledge) Metal Allegiance

Across musical genres, for me, songs that ignite the wow-factor response are a rare occurrence. By this, I mean the far-between moments, that with just a few distinctive notes, guitar riffs, or even the overall groove of a song, a new musical experience becomes forever-etched in memory, complete with the time and place of when this magic was first heard. Certainly, a significant amount of the Led Zeppelin catalogue was a profound influence during my formative guitar (teenage) years. Although Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” mesmerized me when I first heard it, the song itself served as a gateway to other Black Sabbath music. Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and the blistering flight and fluency of Randy Rhoads’ guitar solo is hard to match. Yet, a close rival is Alex Skolnick’s guitar work in “Return to Serenity” (Testament). There is something about this song and solo that make me feel alive, inspired, and yet also moved to tears. I believe the common thread between Alex’s musicianship and performance ability (both early in his career (e.g., The Legacy intro solo at the 20 minute point, as well as recently with Testament) and the aforementioned artists is authenticity. Authenticity is what is missing from a lot of metal music today. I know it is out there – in basements, rehearsal studios, and smaller venues across the global metal community. Yet, corporate conspirators, it seems, are keeping a lot of the genuine music on the down low. Instead, the internet, airwaves, and other social streams are saturated with lame, poser metal bands, which are the equivalent of pop music boy bands with more amp distortion, more tattoos, and equal amounts of image and style manipulation (I’m all for looking like a cohesive group, after all, image is a powerful thing, but there is a clear line between contrived-sellout and thoughtful image projection). The result of this dumbed-down cultural machination is lyrically banal, sonically bland, and generally reductive music that is not artistically on par with the originating influences (and while I’m on my soap box, bring back guitar solos, harmony, and intricate layers of sound!). I also believe that constant screaming is no substitute for real vocal power. Yes, a scream has a purpose at times, but unless you are Randy Blythe (an intelligent lyricist, writer, and photographer; in other words, an artist) its overuse merely reflects a lack of vocal sophistication. Either way, the result is predictably boring music; hardly metal. For the metal genre as a whole, we’re left with the Nickelback-effect. That is, bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Five Finger Death Punch have reduced metal to a generic, watered-down, interchangeably imitative, carbon-copy ‘art’ form. Each of these bands writes a sad commentary on the state of metal today. Given this, the release of the debut album from Metal Allegiance could not be timelier. With a core group of well-travelled musicians (literally and figuratively) that includes Alex Skolnick, Dave Ellefson, Mike Menghi, and Mike Portnoy, there is hope that metal can survive the current onslaught of mediocrity. Yet, at some point these brilliant musicians will move on to new artistic adventures, or even step away from music, and then what will become of the metal community? Who will step alongside, or in place of, the established guards of metal? This thought alone should be a call to action: Stop sheep-mentality metal in its tracks! Pledge allegiance to the cause, stop the proliferation of corporate sounding poser bands and support the real-deal by ordering the album! A few of the album track highlights include Let Darkness Fall, with vocals by Mastodon’s Troy Sanders. Of course, the standout for me is Alex’s powerful opening riffs, executed with tribal power. This is followed by an unexpected down-tempo section with a soulful guitar solo, which is a lead-in to a flamenco-inspired section that slowly builds back to the original tempo and guitar intensity (wow-factor moment!). Simply masterful. Forget words, my first and lasting response is “Holy Fuck”! With vocals by Doug Pinnick (King’s X) and Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed), Wait Until Tomorrow opens with a haunting guitar solo, which sets the essence of the song’s verses. An anguished chorus vocal, a sense of I feel betrayed and beat again resolves through a faster, heavier guitar resurrection. Finally, the three-part instrumental track Triangulum (I. Creation II. Evolution III. Destruction) is a multi-guitarist masterpiece that spans several time changes, yet never loses its momentum. Off the charts, yet still on! Full-on metal assault. Holy Fuck II! “…I don’t really plan what music comes out of me. I think most artists are probably the same way. The best ideas, they just flow out.” ~ Alex Skolnick