Independent hard rock/metal outfit Repentance opened the week by premiering a new music video.
The band debuted the video for its new single, ‘Down In The Water’ Monday. The song is the third single from the band’s EP, Volume I – Reborn, which was released in 2021 through Noble Demon. The record also produced the singles, ‘No Innocence‘ and ‘Reborn’.
The video is a relatively simple presentation. It features the band performing its new single on a specially lit soundtrack and crosses that with footage of a man sitting in a chair, holding a bottle of alcohol. Various editing and lighting effects are used throughout the presentation to enhance to viewing experience and the impact of the song’s arrangement.
The arrangement featured in the new single is a heavy, intense composition. The combination of the screams alongside the equally intense instrumentation immediately makes the song in whole comparable to works from the likes of Dy Kill Logic, Hatebreed, and Terror.
Guitarist/founder Shaun Glass talked about the song’s arrangement in a prepared statement.
“When writing the new material I really wanted to make sure each song had their own identity yet fit into the sound of the band,” Glass said. “With this track the main verse riff set the pace for a dark heavy groove that doesn’t let up and brings the listener in a twisted journey…[front man] Adam’s [Gilley] Adams King-Kong-sized vocals put the stamp on this song and also this is my first song that I actually also handled the guitar solo which is a nice tribute to Dimebag Darrell (Pantera) & Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) – RIP.”
The song’s lyrical theme centers on the battle to overcome addiction, according to GIlley.
“The song is about trying to overcome the struggles from within and ultimately succumbing to the demons of disease in the end,” Gilley said.
In other news, Repentance announced Monday, it will release its new EP on vinyl March 30. The record is available to order here. According to information provided, the delay in the EP’s release date was caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic not allowing pressings to be made at various factories.
Courtesy: Noble Demon/O’Donnell Media Group
In still more news, Repentance is scheduled to perform live April 2 at the Cobra Lounge in Chicago, IL. Consume The Divide, Crusadist, and Vicious Attack are scheduled to join the band for the concert. Tickets are available here.
More information on Repentance’s new concert, single, video, and EP is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
It’s hard to believe but 2021 is officially only four weeks from its big finale. One can only hope that moving forward from here into 2022, that sooner rather than later, we’ll finally be rid of this COVID-19 crap and life can finally go back to what it was. Time will tell. In the meantime, this critic has checked over his calendar for the year’s waning weeks, and surprisingly, there are no more new EPs to go through for the year. That means it is finally time to start in on this year’s “best of” year-ender lists. Of course, as in every year past, the very first of those lists comes in the form of the smallest of the music releases noted.
This year’s list of new EPs features new releases from at least one relatively well-known figure and a number of others who are either up-and-coming or semi-established. They run the gamut from family music to pop to rock and metal to even some southern rock/country. These lists are never easy to finalize because even among the EPs there is so much to appreciate musically and lyrically. That was taken into full consideration with this list, too. Those who have followed this critic’s ramblings for years on end, know how the lists work. For everyone else, they work as such: Instead of just 10 new offerings, this list is composed of 15 titles. The top 10 are the best of the best while the following five are honorable mention titles. This is not a stab at those releases or the acts that released them, either. Far from it. The whole purpose is to give those extras their due credit, too.
So without any further ado, here for your consideration is Phil’s Picks Top 10 New EPs of 2021.
PHIL’S PICKS 2021 TOP 10 NEW EPS
SaulPaul – OK To Be Different
Gabriel & The Apocalypse – Alpha Transcendence
Decent Criminal – Decent Criminal
The Mercy Kills – New Rule
Dirkschneider & The Old Gang – Arising
Repentance – Volume 1 – Reborn
All Hail The Yeti – Within The Hollow Earth
Kulick – Sitting in a Quiet Coffeehouse
Blue Eyed Christ – World on Fire Remixes
Zero Theorum – The Killing II
Sydney Sherwood – Headspace
Christopher Shayne – Ten High
20 Watt Tombstone – Year of the Jackalope
Post Death Soundtrack – Pathless Land
Black TarPoon – The Thad
That’s it for this year’s top new EPs. Thanks goes out to all of the firms that sent out this great music and so much more. No offense is meant to any act left out. For instance Of Mice & Men released a trio of new EPs this year, but they ended up as the new album, Echo, so that album is up for consideration among this critic’s top new hard rock/metal albums of the year. Even more year-enders are on their way as the last days of the year start to wind down, so stay tuned!
Independent hard rock/metal outfit Repentance is scheduled to release its latest record Friday through Noble Demon. The band’s new EP, Volume 1 – Reborn, is a powerful return for the band, which boasts Shun Glass (Soil, Broken Hope, Dirge Within) among its members. Also in the current lineup are Adam Gilley (vocals), Eric Burns (guitar), Eric Karol (bass), and Brandon White (drums). Considering that Glass is the only original member of the group – the lineup previously consisted of Glass alongside Robby J. Fonts (Stuck Mojo), on vocals, as well as Mike Sylvester, Kanky Lora, and Markus Johansson – the EP’s title is fitting, especially considering the lineup changed so dramatically over the course of just one year. While the band’s lineup changed quite a bit, the lineup’s influence on the music clearly has not changed, which is a very good thing. From the EP’s opening to its end, the power in the record’s musical and lyrical content goes a long way to make it appealing. Each item will be examined in its own right here. The production that went into the presentation rounds out its most important elements wand will also be examined here. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the record. All things considered, they make this second offering from Repentance a work that could make the band one of the next big names in the metal community, given the right support.
Repentance’s forthcoming new EP, Volume 1 – Reborn is a powerful new entry and solid follow-up to the band’s 2020 album, God For A Day. As with that record, this presentation is one that could very easily help make the band one of the metal community’s next big names. That is proven in part through the five-song record’s musical arrangements. The arrangements are intense, fiery, and so many other adjectives that one might add to that mix. They are so powerful from one to the next, exhibiting influences from so many bands. Comparisons can be made, for instance, to works from the likes of Hatebreed, Terror, and Dry Kill Logic at points throughout the 19-minute presentation. At other points, audiences can just as much make comparisons to works from the likes of Unearth and Lamb of God. While all of the noted bands are metal acts, their styles are distinct from one another. That they are so well-balanced in each of the featured songs is a testament to the work put in by the band and to those responsible for the record’s production. This item – the production — will be addressed later. That the songs exhibit those influences and blend them so well is important also, because it will appeal so much to such a wide range of metal purists. Keeping that in mind, the amalgam of influences exhibited in the songs and their stylistic similarity from one to the next is sure to keep listeners engaged and entertained. Add in the fact that the songs still boast their own unique sounds separate of one another, even with the noted stylistic similarities in mind, and audiences get in each arrangement, five unique compositions that will appeal to the most casual of metal fans.
Clearly, the musical content featured in Volume I – Reborn plays a pivotal role in the EP’s presentation. They offer audiences plenty of familiar content while still also giving listeners something unique within the record and in comparison to other metal acts out there. The lyrical themes that accompany the EP’s musical arrangements are just as important to its presentation as that musical content. Case in point is the EP’s title track, which is also one of the record’s singles. The song’s lyrical theme comes across as a fiery statement of determination, of letting go of the past and moving forward after cleansing one’s self of the stains of the past. This is inferred from the lyrics provided in the song’s lyric video, which the band debuted in September. On another note, ‘No Innocence,’ another of the record’s singles, is a song whose lyrical theme focuses on its own relatable, accessible theme. Gilley, who currently handles vocals for the band, “‘No Innocence’ is about being betrayed by someone you thought you can trust. When enough is enough and you just can’t hold back anymore.” His statement is translated well through its chorus, in which he sings, “Self-righteous ignorance/Pull the blade from my back/No innocence/I’ll ruin you to the quick/A snap of the fingers/I’ll flip the switch.” That is a powerful statement that also matches the fire in the song’s musical arrangement. As if all of this is not enough proof of the importance of the EP’s lyrical content, the theme featured in the record’s opener, ‘All The Misery.’ If this critic is correctly interpreting the lyrics here, this is a familiar sociopolitical commentary that is so common among hard rock and metal acts. That inference is made as Gilley screams in the song’s lead verse, “Open up/Start a new entry/They part us like the Red Sea/Submerge/Indoctrinating/I will not die on my knees/They pit us against each other/Divide/They will conquer/Put blame on one another/We must stand together/I will not/I will not cry/I will not/I will not die/We will/We will rise/Unite and let’s fight.” These opening lines seem relatively cut and dry. This comes across as one of those lyrical fists in the air, standing against the powers that be and how they intentionally work to divide Americans in order to continue controlling us. That inferred message continues in the song’s second verse in which Gilley screams, “Let’s breath the cycle/From those who are cynical/Fade away/Fade them away/Misery/All the misery.” This is a call to eliminate the misery, to overcome those who would bring us down. Again, this seems to point the finger at those in the nation’s halls of power. The same kind of message is added later in the song, too. The whole makes the statement, again, familiar, but just as welcome as ever, considering where America is today. Any cry for unity against those who would divide people solely for control is welcome. To that end it is yet another example of the importance of the EP’s lyrical content. It is yet another accessible, welcome theme that builds the EP’s success that much more. When it is considered with the equally accessible and relatable themes in the other songs examined here and with the EP’s two remaining songs – ‘Down in the Water’ and ‘This Is Hell’ – the whole of the record’s lyrical content proves just as important as ever to its presentation as the EP’s musical arrangements.
It should be obvious at this point just how important the overall content featured in Volume I – Reborn is to the EP’s presentation. For all that the content does to make the EP so engaging and entertaining, it is just part of what makes the EP successful. The record’s production brings everything together and puts the finishing touch to the whole. The production is so important to examine because, again, how fiery the content is overall. Each arrangement is so loud and so intense. That means that the utmost attention had to be paid to each arrangement in its instrumentation; making sure no one part overpowers the others. In the same breath (no pun intended), just as much attention had to be paid to balancing the instrumentations with the vocals in each song. Those painstaking efforts paid off in that aspect, too. The result is that even with all of the screams against the intensity of the instrumentations, audiences can mostly understand and decipher the songs’ lyrics even without lyrics sheets to reference. Keeping all of this in mind, the EP’s production is not just an aesthetic element. It plays a key role in the EP’s general effect. Keeping that in mind along with the positive impact of the EP’s content overall, the whole makes Volume I – Reborn hopefully just the first of many new volumes of music from Repentance. It makes the record a work that, with the right support, could make Repentance once of the next big names in metal.
Repentance’s forthcoming EP, Volume I – Reborn is a strong new statement from the band. It is a powerful statement about the band’s potential future, as is evidenced in part through its featured musical arrangements. The arrangements boast so many influences while also boasting their own unique identities separate of the works from the bands that clearly influenced Repentance and from one another within the bigger picture of the EP. That in itself is sure to appeal to any metal and hard rock purist. The lyrical themes that accompany the record’s musical arrangements are important to the EP’s presentation because they are just as accessible as the record’s musical content. They present themes that are familiar but still unique in their presentation without being too metaphorical in their language. The record’s production puts the finishing touch to its presentation. It ensures the songs’ instrumentations and vocals are all equally balanced. The result of the work that went into this aspect is five songs whose general effect are all so powerful. Each item examined here is important in its own way to the whole of the EP’s presentation. All things considered, they make the EP another powerful work from Repentance that given the right support, could make this band one of the next big names in the metal and hard rock communities.
Volum I — Reborn is scheduled for release Friday through Noble Demon. More information on the record is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Repentance opened the weekend with another preview of its new record.
The band debuted its new single, ‘No Innocence‘ Friday. The song is the second single from the band’s forthcoming EP, Volume 1 — Reborn, which is scheduled for release Nov. 26 through Noble Demon. The band premiered the record’s lead single, ‘Reborn’ and its companion lyric video Sept. 6.
Much as with ‘Reborn,’ the musical arrangement featured in ‘No Innocence’ is an intense composition that is pure on anger, fire, and frustration. The song’s instrumentation and intensity immediately lends itself to comparison to the best works of Dry Kill Logic, Unearth, and Hatebreed, just to name a few similar sounding acts.
According to front man Adam Gilley, the song’s lyrical theme matches the fire in the work’s musical arrangement.
“‘No Innocence’ is about being betrayed by someone you thought you can trust,” he said. “When enough is enough and you just can’t hold back anymore.”
The track listing for Volume 1 — Reborn is noted below.
Tracklist reads as follows:
01. All The Misery
02. Reborn (feat. Corey Beaulieu of TRIVIUM)
03. Down In The Water
04. No Innocence
05. This Is Hell
More information on Repentance’s new single and album is available along with the band’s latest news at:
Hard rock super group Repentance unveiled its latest single and the song’s companion video Monday.
The group opened the new week with the premiere of its new single, ‘Reborn’ and its companion lyric video. The song is the first single from the band’s forthcoming EP, which is slated for release later this year through Noble Demon. Its premiere comes more than a year after the band — in its new lineup of Adam Gilley (vocals), Shaun Glass (guitar), Eric Burns (guitar), Eric Karol (bass), and Brandon White (drums) — premiered the band’s then latest single, ‘God For a Day,’ which was the title track from the band’s then latest album.
As with ‘God For a Day,’ the musical arrangement featured in ‘Reborn’ is a heavy, intense metalcore style composition. Though, the guest appearance of Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu adds a clear thrash metal influence to the arrangement, too. The whole makes this song even more intense just in terms of its musical arrangement.
No information was provided about the song’s lyrical theme in the press release announcing the premiere of the new song and its video. Reading the lyrics in the video, which are presented over images of fire as the song plays over it all, the song’s lyrical theme comes across as a…pardon the pun…fiery statement of determination, letting go of the past and moving forward after cleansing one’s self of the stains of the past. That is just this critic’s interpretation.
Going back to the note of the band’s new EP, the band recently inked a new record deal with Noble Demon. The label is also home to the likes of Oceanhoarse, Neonfly, and Red Moon Architect.
Glass spoke highly of Noble Demon as he talked about the band’s addition to the label’s roster.
“Repentance is thrilled to be with the mighty Noble Demon Records for our new releases!,” said Glass. “I was so impressed with how such a newer label was making waves and with such a diverse roster of Metal/Rock it was the obvious place for this to be our new home with a professional staff and Patrick’s amazing history in the Metal industry, it’s a breath of fresh air.”
Noble Demon founder Patrick Walch shared Glass’ positive vibes in his own comments.
“When I discovered Repentance last year listening to their first single and then the full length album ‘God for A Day’ I instantly knew I was onto something there,” he said.”After having spoken with Shaun Glass for a while we knew that the vibe was more than right between us so, it didn’t need much negotation in order to work together on their next songs.”
Added Walch, “I’m proud to welcome another member to the Noble Demon family, this time with a pure US metal sound which I’ve always been appreciating by bands like Trivium, Lamb Of God, Devildriver etc., all bands I grew up with as well. And having Corey of Trivium play the solo on this new single is a huge honor for all of us. Check out Repentance, you won’t be disappointed!”
More information on Repentance’s new single and album is available along with the band’s latest news at:
Hard rock super group Repentance unveiled its latest single this week.
The band — Robby J. Fonts (Stuck Mojo), Shaun Glass (Soil, Broken Hope,Dirge Within), Mike Sylvester, Kanky Lora, and Markus Johansson — premiered its new single ‘God For A Day’ Friday. The single is the title track from the band’s forthcoming album, which is scheduled for release Sept. 25 through Art Is War/Intercept Music.
‘God For A Day’ is available to stream and download here. Pre-orders are open now.
The song’s musical arrangement is a heavy, guitar-driven work whose drums, bass and vocals collectively give the song a distinct metalcore style sound. The aggressive approach also has hints of old school thrash added to the mix, enriching its presentation even more. It lends itself to comparisons to works from the likes of Killswitch Engage, Unearth, and As I Lay Dying.
The song’s lyrical theme comes across possibly as a commentary about the state of the world, gathering what lyrics can be deciphered without a lyrics sheet to reference. The two elements together make the song in whole a strong first impression from the band in its forthcoming debut album.
The track listing for God For A Day is noted below.
God For A Day Album
(Tracklist)
1.
Repentance (Intro)
2.
Only The Damned Die Young
3.
Clarity
4.
God For A Day
5.
Snake-Oil Humanitarian
6.
Enter the Gallows
7.
Where Vultures Gather
8.
Born to Choose
9.
Deliverance
More information on Repentance’s new single and album is available along with the band’s latest news at:
Fledgling metal band Repentance has released its latest single.
The band — composed of former SOiL and Dirge Within guitarist Shaun Glass, Stuck Mojo front man Robby J. Fonts, lead guitarist Markus Johansson (THEM), drummer Anthony Lien and bassist Mike Sylvester — released its “first official” single ‘Enter The Gallows’ Oct. 18.
The song’s musical arrangement will appeal to fans of Lamb of God, Chimaira, Murkocet and other similar acts. One could even argue that there is a hint of a Slayer and Machine Head influence incorporated into the arrangement. Musically speaking, the song seems to come across as a sort of social commentary, though no explanation as to the meaning of the song’s lyrics in its news release.
‘Enter The Gallows’ was engineered by Chuck Macack (Born of Osiris, Oceano) and mastered by Chris Collier (Prong, Korn, RiotV) of CMC21 Productions at ElectroWerks Recording in Downers Grove, Illinois.
While the band is calling its new single its “first official” single, it is actually the band’s third single so far. It follows the release of the band’s debut “demo” ‘Collide‘ on May 14 and its follow-up, ‘Born To Choose‘ only days later on May 20.
Courtesy: Napalm Records
‘Enter The Gallows” debut comes only days before the band is scheduled to play as a special guest for Devildriver at Route 20 on Nov. 12. The performance is part of Devildriver’s “The Outlaws Til The End Tour,’ which is in support of Devildriver’s new outlaw country covers record Outlaws Til The End Vol. 1. The record was released July 6 via Napalm Records. Tickets are available here.
More information on Repentance is available online now at:
To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.
philspicks 