Troy The Band – Michael
Similar artists: 1000mods, Lowrider, Green Lung, Kyuss, Alice in Chains, Dear Deceased, Acid Magus, Mars Red Sky
Genre: Stoner Rock, Psychedelic Rock
There are few things that are undeniably silly, spooky and simply great to be involved all at once. For those lucky enough to find the pleasure of playing slowed-down, heavy guitar riffs along with their friends, fate has found a way to marry all of these qualities. Truly, there are bands that never manage to agree upon the style that they should embrace. This, however, is not true for Black Sabbath-inspired groups. They know from the first moment that they detune their guitars.
While getting baked and playing music that sounds like a giant struggling to stomp over New York City is a lot of fun, doing a good job is also a surprisingly difficult job. Just like driving a car, going fast is certainly difficult, but moving slow and keeping control is also deceptively tricky. This is true for everyone in the band, especially the rhythm section tasked with making the heads of the audience bop and bang in unison.
Troy The Band’s Michael is as ridiculous and infectious as Black Sabbath re-reforming and being tasked to soundtrack a re-remake of Friday the 13th. It’s a song that swings. But, it does so at the kind of speed that seems fit to get the entire world to grind to a halt. These are vocals that are designed like spell chanting, to be feared more and understood less. Overall, there are few things that are silly, spooky and entirely fun and Troy The Band are one of those.
GORTIS KHAN – Truth
Similar artists: Deftones, Tool, Beastie Boys, Chevelle
Genre: Shoegaze, Post Rock, Alternative Rock
There are few great artists entirely successful with their work. The vast majority spend their lives dreaming of operation in an entirely different artistic field to the one that they’ve been blessed to know. The poets often want to be rock stars. Painters would really like to direct if given the chance. And, musicians spend no time at all in telling you about how they really see patterns of colour when they are recording their music.
Of course, some of them have to be lying. They aren’t giving out synesthesia cards for free along with each fat joint. However, it is true that great musicians have the capacity to make work that acts upon multiple senses, overheating the imagination and, thus, creating a powerful bond with their audience. Jimi Hendrix used to refer to various parts of his songs by using a collar code. Jimmy Page spoke of writing using light and shade. And, Deftones described one of their newer releases as containing a lot more “shades of pink“.
If it’s texture that you’re looking for in modern rock then here’s a song that has got you covered. Gortis Khan’s Truth is the sound of a metal band daring their audience to engage with their most precious influences, goth, post-rock and hip-hop. It’s not a song that crashes into the audience even though you would expect that it might. Instead, it hovers, changes direction frequently, and looks to take the audience out on a journey. Space-rock is not dead. Bands like Gortis Khan have just found new places towards they can fly their space ship.
