Friday Morning Metal – Leatherwitch – Heroes and the Dice

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Woo shreddy lady metal featuring ladies! This week we’re listening to Heroes and the Dice, from Katowice, Silesia. Silesia is apparently a region that covers a bit of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. I just learned that. So now you get to too! The band was started by Marta Gabriel, who was in Crystal Viper and also worked as a session musician with like Manilla Road and stuff. And she shreds! Also it’s spelled Leatherwitch, not leatherwich, which I assume is what happens to a hoagie if you leave it out in the sun too long.

The song starts off with some plinky plunky grandspas guitars before the drums come marching in. Definitely has the vibes of a Maiden song that would be the first song out the gate live. The pivot to chuggy guitars and big drums is pretty great. Marta’s got a great voice that soars overs the melody real well. The solo is fun, with crazy noodling and soary interludes. The drums are tomtastic and ready to guide many a runner to a huge PR on their next race.

The video is a combo of her performing along with clips of what looks to be wizards playing D&D in the woods. Or at least they’re rolling dice in the woods. I think they’re magical scrying dice or something. Then I think a dude gets stabbed with an enchanted dagger which someone buries on a beach. Maybe they were playing dice over who got stabbed. Or who had to do the stabbing. Marta’s white leather fingerless gloves are pretty badass, and there’s plenty of opportunities to watch her shred out. The placement of the lights behind her does make it look like she’s standing in front of a Jeep Wrangler while singing. But all in all it’s a fun song and video!

Friday Morning Metal – Visigoth – Warrior Queen

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Happy Friday, here’s some power metal coming straight out of Salt Lake City, it’s Visigoth’s Warrior Queen. I’ve talked about these guys previously with their song Dungeon Master, about guys who like… battle orcs and have maximum charisma. This time it’s about a lady who’s badass and has a sword & stuff.

The song is pretty straight down the fairway power metal, kicking off with a drum fill before the singer shows off his pipes. It’s got a solid chugga guitar line during the verses, putting it right at home with like Dream Evil and whatnot. There’s a solid solo halfway through the song, chock full of finger taps and sweeps picks. Seems like most bands, if they do a solo, put it halfway through. I guess that gives the band a breather. They get an extra breather with a big epic breakdown to let the singer play flute. He plays flute you guys. And sings about marching through the fog. The big vocals transition to a good shouty part that I assume gets the crowd ready for huge moshing right at the end.

The video cuts between the band on a soundstage, and the titular warrior queen standing alone and ready to fight some guy who has a flail or something. Oh and she defeats a king who looks like he’s king of the comic shop down the street. The vocalist seems like a nice guy but he also looks like “we have Halford at home” with his studded jacket. Oooh there is a bit of some rock guitar posing.

Friday Morning Metal – Green Carnation – Sanguis

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What in Green Carnation? Here’s some super prog from Norway’s own Green Carnation. The song is Sanguis, off Part two of Prog Bards Epic Album Trilogy™, and that’s a fantastic phrase right there. These guys have been progging all over since 1990, with themes of life, death, sorrow, and introspection. Sanguis does seem to play in those themes. Also their drummer’s shirt is buttoned all the way up. He looks like a server at a fancy restaurant, not a drummer. Maybe that’s how you can tell they’re a professional prog® band.

The song kicks off with some organ vibes before dropping into the main melody. It’s pretty cool to see a band prog rocking with an organ instead of a keyboard. But a keytar would still be epic. The vocals are big and clean, and with the way the guy is moving his hands around I bet he’s like an opera type singer too. Oooh and sometimes he pivots to a growl, that’s neat. There’s a pretty noodly solo at the halfway mark, not like crazy noodly but definitely fun and technical. The chorus is pretty floaty, not like much of the stuff I’ve posted recently, but it’s a pretty big and epic 7-minute prog fest.

The video itself is primarily on a sound stage, but sometimes they make it look like it’s snowing/raining blood? I guess that’s the Sanguis part. Also a lot of strobe lights, so if that is no damn good for you maybe listen to the song on Sportify or scroll the video off the page? The lead singer looks like Santa giving a Ted Talk, too.

Friday Morning Metal – Mutoid Man – Call of the Void

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Coming straight out of Brooklyn, it’s Mutoid Man with Call of the Void. According to the internet, they’re either stoner metal, sludge metal, or math rock. They seem kind of proggy with their music so maybe there’s that too. Who knew a band that got started in Brooklyn in 2012 would be quasi hipster in their genre stylings! Their themes are humanities, sociopolitical, and personal. Personal what, I don’t know, but Enclyclopaedia Metallum had those in the listing.

The song kicks off with a very dissonant guitar melody. It almost sounds like the guitar is going through too many effects pedals, but once the song gets going, it fits in really well. It kind of reminds me of Muse or similar bands. The drums are pretty frenetic and badass, keeping the song moving at a good clip. The vocals are clean, reminding me of some of the like At the Drive In kind of era bands. At the three minute mark we get a solid solo, which is good. He’s playing on a flying v, I’m pretty sure they take away your flying v if you don’t have at least one solo per song.

The video starts out with a weird presenter at the mutant mission introducing the band. They look like a creepy Charles Entertainment Cheese band. As the song progresses, they get more and more melty, and start to move less like robots. Before long they turn into static and get eaten by what appears to be a giant “We have Ed at home.” It’s a fun premise, also they’re good at being robots. Maybe they went to college for performing arts or were breakdancers in their youth.

Friday Morning Metal – In Malice’s Wake – Beyond Death

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Coming straight out of Melbourne, this week it’s In Malice’s Wake thrashing faces with Beyond Death. These guys play a pretty heavy thrash, though you think with a name like In Malice’s Wake they’d be proggy math rock with tons of time changes and polymeters. It’s math! Like in Guts Punch Balls Throw Up. However, they play songs about the downfall of humanity, armageddon, and self-awareness. That third one is really a thing. It’s not me saying two serious things and then a joke. I hope the self-awareness songs are like “you got something in your nose” or “hey quit calling that guy a chump while you yourself act the chump.”

The song wastes no time to get into the kind of shreddy wall of sound that pervades the song. There’s a couple interesting rhythm changes with a quick noodly phrase to bring it in. The lead vocals are growly and tough, with the bassist adding the more gutteral backing on the chorus. They work well together. There’s a quick solo early in the song, but for the most part it’s a big aggro thrash epic.

The video is primarily them playing at a bonfire near some woods. I hope there are a bunch of people in camp chairs behind the camera, drinking beer and grilling hot dogs. Those are two great things to do at a bonfire. Especially if there’s some badass metal getting performed. Their lead guitarist looks like a wizard, and I think he aced the Advanced Fast Hand Finger Wizard Master Class the way he shred the solo early on.

Friday Morning Metal – Nukem – Random Acts of Violence

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They’re here to play thrash and chew bubblegum, and they’re all out of bubblegum. It’s Random Acts of Violence from San Diego’s own Nukem. According to Encylopaedia Metallum I guess they’re from El Cajon, which is the drawer of California. San Diego is probably right nearby. I wouldn’t say they’re groovy, but they do look like they’re ready to rip em a new one.

Right off the bat I can hear the bass thick in the mix and now I am stoked. After the intro, you get into the frenetic riffs and shreddiness that comprise a top notch thrash song. The vocals have a good edge to them, and fit well. There’s a solid breakdown halfway through that I’m sure is when you get a lot of fist pumping and shouting from a live show. There are like… three solos, two shreddy and one noodly. Wait I think a fourth solo has hit the video. This rules!

The video is them on a soundstage or something with some purple lighting. Pretty barebones, but then you get to see them shred all over and that’s fun. I bet they could intersperse the SNL Digital Short “People Getting Punched Right Before Eating” and that would work well. Or just random clips of people getting hit in the nards. That’s a good random act of violence right there. These guys have great rock squats going on, like the seasoned pros they are. Definitely adding them to my “get back to work” mixes going forward.

Friday Morning Metal – Vomitory – For Gore and Country

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Coming in hot, here’s some Swedish death metal, it’s For Gore and Country by Vomitory. These guys have been melting faces since 1989 and getting people to say Vomitory in casual conversation. Their themes are death, gore, war, violence, and anti-religion. I’m pretty sure this song has four out of five. Unless zombies are anti religious, then it’s a clean sweep!

There’s no intro to this song, just a straight wall of metal kicking you in the solar plexus. The main riff is pretty catchy; I bet it would’ve fit right into a Pantera song just as well as this song. I wonder if they named the band Vomitory because the vocalist sounds a bit like he’s hurking, or if that was a happy coincidence. It is nice that despite being death metal, the lyrics are relatively easy to understand. No solo in this track, but it’s also three and a half minutes long.

The video cuts between the band playing in a subway station and an animated zombie horde attacking an army. Sometimes they do some rad closeups on the band members, so you can see the bassist playing the E string over and over. The rotting horde zombie really messes up the army. I don’t know why they’d send an army into a zombie town like that, seems like a bad move all around. And it’s borne out by the zombies eating a ton of them. Also kinda wild that Youtube isn’t like “hey are you old enough to watch this?”

Friday Morning Metal – Sons of Hades – The Omen

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Coming straight out of Athens, it’s Sons of Hades with The Omen. These guys are pretty great speed metal and apparently got their start in 2023. I guess being the son of Hades would be different than being the son of the devil, given the pantheons and whatnot. I bet Hades’ kids would be relatively well adjusted, like that Zagreus. He didn’t have issues at all!

The song starts off with a killer guitar intro before kicking into gear. It’s a great frenetic pace, I bet the pit goes nuts during the song. I dig the drum fills within the chorus, they’re big and bombastic. No guitar solo in this one, but there’s some cool riffs throughout and some rhythm changes that are interesting. The song clocks in at 3 minutes and change. You probably don’t need more than that when your chorus is “Bow down to the antichrist.”

The video starts with a news report about a kid being creepy and hypnotizing people, as though he’s the spawn of satan. It’s interspersed with clips of the band that look pretty solid and not evil at all. And then the most interesting priest in the world goes out to stop the omen by the power of christ compelling them. Also there’s some wolves and creepy clouds. All together, it’s a solid video. Nice to see some acting in a music video.

Friday Morning Metal – Chalice – Silver Cloak

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Here comes some Finnish throwback metal care of Chalice. These guys got their start in 2016 and bring a very late 70’s/early 80’s metal vibe. Like Angel Witch with newer production. They are not to be confused with the Jamaican reggae band formed in 1980, nor should they be confused with the Gothic-doom band from Australia that broke up in 2007. I think this is why there are so many bands with AD or BC in their name. We can’t all be Demon Balls, it’s too confusing. You guys be Demon Balls AD, we’ll be Demon Balls City.

The song drops right into the melody, with some good bass riffs joining the phrases. The vocals are somewhat haunting during the verses, giving it a bit of a 70s vibe. There’s a solid part before the guitar solo that would really lend itself to the synchronized guitar poses that are part and parcel of a metal performance. And the solo itself? Felt like three separate noodlefests stuffed into one! This does make me want to harness the powers of my inner fire. At 3 minutes 40 seconds, the song is a fantastic length. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, but also doesn’t feel truncated in the least.

The video looks like they’re trapped backstage at something. Then a dude with a cow head is being creepy. And some creepy hands. At one point the creepy hand is trying to be helpful and hands the dude a bong and a wine glass, so that’s nice of them. It looks like an old timey horror movie which is pretty fun and fits with the vocal style. I bet them writing Down Under on the walls doesn’t help with the disambiguation between them and the Australian Chalice. It’s kind of a bummer you don’t get to see the band perform, but all in all it’s a cool video.

Friday Morning Metal – Zerre – Deception of the Weak

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Look over Zerre, it’s a Friday Morning Metal! This week it’s Deception of the Weak by Bavaria’s own Zerre. Encylopaedia Metallum says they got their start as a hardcore punk band before transitioning to thrash, and you can kinda tell the overlap. Apparently they don’t have themes. I would like to submit a theme: shred. Is shred a theme? I think it could be. It might lean more toward like… snowboard metal I guess, so I look forward to that.

A solid chugga melody starts the song off before the band kicks into full effect. The vocals are leaning a bit more toward hardcore than metal, but they fit in with the rest of the band’s vibe. The chorus has a great opportunity for the crowd to get in the mix. There’s also a couple solid breakdowns for those who enjoy headbanging. Dueling guitar solos from an explorer and flying V is how you know this is a great metal song. And dang the guy on the explorer shreds hard; very noodly, very fun. Clocking in just under 4 minutes, Zerre’s not wasting anyone’s time.

The video is a combo of a live performance and some additional footage of them shredding. LIVE! SIN! DIE! I guess that’s the deception of the weak. As opposed to April Fool’s Day, which is the deception of this week! Ha! I’m here all night folks.