Year Of The Moth ~ Year Of The Moth (aka debut) (EP) (album review) ... Day of the proggy metal!

Style: experimental, heavy metal, hard rock
Label: self-released
Year: 2009
Home: Pheonix, Arizona

Members: Kevin Dye ~ vocals/guitar
Tim Van Vlack ~ guitar
Terry Douglas ~ drums
James Ray ~ bass

   Made up of Arizona music scene alumni & studio musicians YOTM have come together to try their hand at progressive metal. This isn't overly complicated music or even power metal but sticks to the basic building blocks of the heavy metal sound to create interesting tonal arrangements with an experimental edge. Much of the music is also based around obvious layering, with a single guitar then joined by another to only go back & forth throughout a song creating a mixture of individual moments within a song versus the standard riff A-riff B-riff A-riff C-repeat, approach. The 5 minute instrumental "Manifesto" is a great example of this enthralling musical ingenuity. One particular highlight is "Circus Monkey", which has a two-guitar riff that actually sounds like each foot being put down by a giant monkey plodding along & cracking the earth, which through the rest of song gets more interesting variations than many bands put on a whole album. The regular use of slightly synthesized vocals is also a highlight giving them a unique progressive edge. Vocals are always a great thing to tweak to give a band a unique &/or recognizable sound. Just look at Yes, Rush, L.A. Guns with Jizzy Pearl or even the chatty Megadeth. In general, the songs of YOTM tend to have a heavy metal sound but aim for this via tight riffs over the speed & thrash approach, which makes for more enjoyable listening experience over all. I'd love to hear some live tracks from this band as I have the feeling they would be different but incredibly interesting variations on their studio work ... let alone full of energy cause this is head-banging music for sure. The only thing that could damage these tight arrangements live is a poor sound system, which they've probably had plenty of in some of those smaller Arizona clubs! A recommended band to check out!