Whoever said, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” obviously never ran a hard rock/metal blog. My contributing writer Taylor is a young, proud, tried, and true metalhead who constantly has her ears to the ground and even under the ground. She is always telling me about these new bands that I have never heard of so finally I said, “Taylor, just make me a list and I will work my way through the list.” As someone who loves finding and discovering new bands, I love it even more when new bands are brought to my attention.
For this piece, I have taken this list that Taylor gave me and I decided to work my way down the list and share my thoughts on each of them. Keep in mind, these are my own opinions on these bands but I have also included tracks for you to listen to because hey, I may not like a certain band but maybe, just maybe that band will be your new favorite band.
Old James
Now this is a fucking band. This three piece Canadian powerhouse absolutely blew my mind after checking out their video for the song “Don’t Put it On Me.” They totally have this rootsy married with hard rock sound ala Raging Slab. This kind of music totally tugs at my heart strings and is the kind of music I grew up loving and still do. It’s so nice to see youngins bringin’ it back home with the old school love.
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Goat Horn
Once again, here are some “kids” kicking it old school. Their video for “Rotten Roll” cost a whopping $60.00 to make and it is easily one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. It reminds me of the atomic silliness of bands like Anvil and Killer Dwarfs and musically they remind me of both of the mentioned bands. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s well played, and it totally made me love this band and want to hear more. In a genre that sometimes takes itself way too seriously, it’s just nice to see a band having a fucking good time. It’s weird because I found myself liking this stuff way more than the band they would eventually morph into (Cauldron).
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Wolf
I checked out their song “Shark Attack” and here’s the thing; Wolf definitely doesn’t suck but they didn’t do anything for me. As a matter of fact, I kind of found them to be generic and lacking any kind of identity. About a minute into the song, I found myself straightening my desk, reading the Onion, and checking my email and then all of the sudden the song was done. Like I said, they didn’t suck but they just did nothing for me.
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Diemonds
I have heard a lot of people talking about this band and I have to say, I didn’t like this at all. Also, their name is absolute hideous. Diemonds is almost this kind of 80’s sounding glam metal mixed with Halestorm (who I fucking hate). Lyrically the songs that I heard were just terrible and cringe worthy. Musically they were tight but just so generic and so plain. Nothing exciting here at all. Sorry Diemonds. No play for you!
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Sumerlands
Gave these guys and listen and musically I have to say that I was loving them. They kind of remind me of Jake E. Lee, Bark at the Moon era Ozzy kind of stuff but the vocals just killed it for me. I didn’t think the singer was very good at all which made it hard for me to truly enjoy the songs. This is a prime example of how a singer can make or break a band. In this situation, unfortunately it’s broke and it needs fixing sooner than later.
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Visigoth
Wow. I’m really not sure what I just listened to but the more I heard, the less I liked them. This particular song (Dungeon Master) is just a bit over the top for me. Musically these guys totally sound like old school White Wizzard with a drummer who isn’t as good and a vocalist who sounds like he wants to be from Europe (these guys are from Salt Lake City). I didn’t hate it but it also makes me wonder if this is a band that I need to see live. I wouldn’t write them off fully just yet. These guys are a definite maybe.
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Midnight
I fucking LOVE this band. This just may be the best band Taylor has turned me on to. This band, in a nutshell is old school Venom wearing hoods on stage. Savage Master does the hood thing better than anybody so I think these guys should hang their hoods up. It’s corny, it’s cheesy, but it’s fucking awesome. You can totally tell by listening to this band that this is the kind of metal they truly love and cut their teeth on. It’s not a bunch of youngins trying too hard. This is the real fucking deal and I love this band.
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Spell
There’s a big difference between loose and sloppy and I just found these guys to be extremely sloppy. Musically they just sounded like a fucking garage band that just recorded their demo on a boom box. I can hear elements of how these guys could eventually be a good band but this is just way too sloppy for my liking. And those vocals are just not good. Sorry, Spell.
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Spellcaster
What a great sounding band. The production is fantastic and musically they are so tight but this band just seems to lack any kind of identity. There is nothing these guys are doing that stands out from the pack. They just sound like all the other really good melodic classic NWOTHM bands. This isn’t a horrible thing by any means but it just means that by the time I finish this article I will have already forgotten them.
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Evil Invaders
This band is so ridiculous… ridiculously awesome. The song “Tortured by the Beast” literally had me rolling because it was so over the top. Now this is what I’m talking about when I say that having a memorable identity is what bands need to make them stick out. This dude’s voice is so ridiculous and honestly not that good but it’s so much fun and musically the band is fucking tight as hell. I dug this and will definitely check out more.
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Midnight Malice
Ok, so kind of like Spellcaster, these guys lacked some identity but over all I found their songwriting and their delivery to be extremely well done. I really enjoyed this band and I feel like this is a band that I need to see live. They sound like a really fun band to see and I absolutely love the guitar tones and playing on this song. This is some good shit that will definitely get some more attention from me.
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Skull Fist
This is a band that for some reason always flew under my radar. I’ve heard the name (terrible name), I’ve seen the shirts, but I never really gave them an earnest listen and I have to say… I’m fucking glad that I finally did. Thank you, Taylor! I really enjoyed this band so fucking much. They have this old school 80’s metal sound mixed with a bit of Helloween meets Skid Row. The singer dude can sing his fucking ass off and I love the twin axe attack. Yeah, this is a band I need to dive into more for sure. Loved this.
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Cauldron
I really enjoyed this. I didn’t love them but I definitely didn’t hate them. At first I didn’t love the singer’s voice but I ended up really liking it because he wasn’t one of those “trying too hard” singers. Much like Skull Fist, they were a band that flew under my radar and for some reason just kept getting pushed down to the bottom of the pile. While I didn’t love them, I can hear something there and this is definitely a band that deserves way more attention than I’ve given them.
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Amulet
Yeah, I didn’t dig this at all. This kind of reminded me of that Spell band only instead, these guys were actually pretty tight musically but those vocals are just horrible. I couldn’t even listen to a full song from these dudes. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if you love this band, more power to you. I just couldn’t get into this at all. Sorry, Amulet.
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RAM
This is hands down the best band on this fucking list. Holy fuck this is a great band. What a sound. It sounds so fucking huge and those vocals are just insane. I love that the singer has his own voice and doesn’t really sound like anyone else I’ve ever heard. I easily listened to this song twice and immediately went and bought their album Svbversvm. This is the kind of band that gets me super fucking excited about the future of metal. This band has such a strong sound and this is a band that I can see really making a mark on the face of metal if given the opportunity to do so. This is definitely a band that I will be keeping my eyes and ears on from here on.
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