Style: heavy metal
Label: Frontiers Records
Year: 2021
Home: Rome, Italy
Members: Valerio "The Brave" Caricchio ~ vocals
Francesco Bucci ~ bass
Paolo Campitelli, Alex Mele ~ guitars
Alfonso Corace ~ drums
Guests: Steve Di Giorgio ~ fretless bass
Herbie Langhans ~ vocals
Simone Mularoni, Massimiliano Pagliuso, Andrea Angelini, Francesco Mattei ~ guitars
For those that believe that guitar heroes are dead & all music is now soulless techno garbage ... no, simply no, not even close. Maybe some of the famous names can't play their way out of a paper bag without help, nor know what a good rockin' guitar solo is & rely too much on synthetic beats, not to mention can't sing or write a memorable lick, but I'm often surprised by how many real bands playing real instruments & making great music are out there. Let alone how many stellar guitarists have done their homework & have great taste in music, naming their teachers as Eddie Van Halen & Marty Friedman, not Lil Wayne. Guitar heroes are not gone. Great rock songs are not gone. Real drumming or real playing or real anything is not gone. There's a new generation out there making music like techno doesn't exist & guitar heroes still rule the world & metal vocals are an art form. Once upon a time I also thought music was doomed, particularly traditional metal, but then I stopped listening to the bands Rolling Stone mag was reviewing, & I've never had such dismal thoughts again. Thank god or Al Gore for the internet, as we can now find the guitar heroes or the next Rob Halford or Ronnie James Dio or whoever & not have to let the mainstream media find them for us. For those that might disagree with my observation I turn your ears now to ScreaMachine's debut. If old school metal ever died, it is now firmly resurrected & is in wonderful musical hands. This is a must hear debut of epic proportions. I honestly can't say a band thing about it, even after numerous listens. Sometimes I'll write that a debut is unfocused, or should be longer or shorter, or is almost there musically, but this is a chunk of perfectly crafted metal that hits you immediately & never disappoints. 10 fierce songs show various styles but never stray too far from the base. So many of these songs could be singles, actually, as so many jumped out at me. Of course, leave it to the always amazing Frontiers Records to have their hand on the pulse of great rock music & be behind ScreaMachine. I'll pretty much welcome a listen of anything they put out, as they have a great reputation & awesome taste in music. ScreaMachine is old school traditional metal ... done the right way. That means not just stellar riffs & powerful singing, but the songs have moods & melodies. There's strong hints of Halford & Judas Priest here, while also coming to mind was Accept, HammerFall & Battle Beast. Its classic metal, yet also very modern in its feel, wonderfully straddling both styles. Great singing makes up for a lack of high notes (i.e. the music sounds like Halford in spirit, but you don't get Rob's piercing wail) with a wonderful moodiness I don't hear enough. This is more like the singing style of Ronnie James Dio. Guitars churn out riff after riff like the old metal days, but then don't forget modern ears still want to hear some fast blistering solos. The rhythm section, not to be forgotten, keeps the foundation that is so very important. As a bassist, the low end is the secret ingredient that done well drives the band, even if you don't realize it. Check out "Dancing With Shadows" for some great drummer that throws in some cymbal shots for great effect that caught my ear & got a chuckle. Also appearing on the album is fretless bass master Steve Di Giorgio of Testament & Iced Earth, singer Herbie Langhans of Firewind & Avantasia, plus Italy's own shredders DGM's Simone Mularoni, Novembre's Massimiliano Pagliuso, Stormlord's Andrea Angelini, & Noveria's Francesco Mattei.
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