DEVACRON: Recommendation of the year: Sumerlands

onsdag 28 december 2016

Recommendation of the year: Sumerlands

So I wanted to do a little bit of a fan promotion right now. There's a relatively new band out there right now called Sumerlands featuring names such as vocalist Phil Swanson (Hour of 13, etc.) and musicion/producer Arthur Rizk (Eternal Champion, War Hungry, Power Trip, etc.). They come from Philly (Philadelphia), Pensylvania and they play some good old school-influenced American heavy metal.

If I were to describe their sound, I'd say they sound a lot like (80's) solo-era Ozzy Osbourne and also post-Ozzy Black Sabbath. Particularly the vocals are very reminiscent to that of Ozzy's, albeit a lot more cleaner and greater in vocal ranges. Phil Swanson simply sounds amazing! But then again, Ozzy and Sabbath are my very great musical idols, I love that kind of sound.

The guitar work is also very much in the same vein as Ozzy's solo stuff, particularly that of Randy Rhoads and maybe slightly more from Jake E. Lee. Influences of other bands such as Savatage, Queensrÿche and maybe even some Mercyful Fate are to be found here. But I think the band manage just fine to still make the music their own and with a unique touch to it.

Overall the sound is very organic as well as dynamic. The guitars are filled with details and a bit playful in their approach, kinda like Van Halen if you know what I mean? The drums are also very hard-hitting and provides a ferocious stampede throughout the album's run. They're also produced with a heavy 80's sound which I just love.

If you're a fan of Ozzy's "The Ultimate Sin" album and Sabbath's albums with Dio, Tony Martin and the others in between, then this will most likely appeal to you. Fans of other US heavy/power metal bands will likely also like this, as there are some influences of Manilla Road and the other bands which I mentioned before.

To give the album a try, simply use YouTube, Bandcamp or Spotify down below:

YouTube

Spotify

Bandcamp

To purchase the album you can go to Relapse Records or Bandcamp. I ordered the black vinyl edition from Relapse myself.

Sumerlands shop @ Relapse Records

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About this blog:

Welcome to Devacron, estimated 2011.

This is my place where I occassionally aggrevate and write about stuff I like, mostly about music or video games. I am a huge fan of metal music (primarily) and totally non-elitist, i.e. an open-minded metal music listener. I also particularly like electronic/synth/ambient music as well as some other styles.

I have a strange obsession with the 1980's and that's something I've had since I was a kid. Born in 1990, I perfectly missed out on the entire decade. As a kid I simply enjoyed lots of 80's movies and the soundtracks. Think Robocop, Terminator and cheesy 80's music as well as rock anthems. I loved it!

In 2002 I got interested in music and 80's heavy metal was my one great love from the get-go. I grew up with very young parents, both of whom were teenage metalheads in the 80's. Safe to say, they nutured me with the greatest kind of music ever made.

Other interests range from movies to video games to motorcycles. I like a lot of sci-fi movies but also fantasy. Whatever is like an adventure movie, I suppose. I've also been a gamer all my life, starting off on Sega Megadrive and NES as a small kid. These days I rock the PS4 and PC gaming.

I'm also a musician. I was in a (mixed) metal band called Devastation (Sweden) for ten years, playing drums and doing backing vocals (mostly death metal growling). The band renamed itself Into The Pentagram in 2014 and became more of a pure death/black metal band.