Turns out this band is 3/4 of Creed. I heard a thing where they formed the band they didn’t realize it was going to be god rock and they got disappointed, so I guess this is their attempt to be a solid prog rock/metal act. And they’re pretty solid. Turns out the singer also sings in Slash’s band, he’s got solid pipes.

The song kicks off like an early 2000s borderline nu-metal or I guess 21st century American Metal vibe, kinda industrial but once the song gets going it sounds like pretty by the numbers prog rock. They do sing about their open eyes, but not open arms. The pivot from chuggy but kinda slower verses to a pre-chorus breakdown, to an aggressive chorus is interesting. Not necessarily the thrash and speed metal stuff I normally post, but I do dig it. The vocals at certain points sound like the song could fit into a rock opera well. And then there’s a proper soaring and noodly guitar solo to really lock it in.

The video is a samurai looking person fighting off a zombie horde. Or maybe a viking? Regardless, it does have a Dethklok kind of vibe to all the brutality, and you can’t go wrong with being brütal. I’m not sure if it’s a stylistic choice or it’s AI, but there’s something in the way the animation moves that makes me think it might be AI. I hope it’s not. It’s bad enough they’re making fake bands to stuff into Spøtify, they don’t need to crap everything else up with AI.