Music Discovery Monday – 5/30/16

Music Discovery Monday – 5/30/16

Music Discovery Monday shines a light on artists that are not getting the radio attention that they deserve, while also showcasing new singles by established bands that are likely to get airplay in the future.

This week’s Music Discovery Monday features an exclusive interview with Crash Midnight frontman Shaun Soho, who discusses the inspiration behind the band’s latest single, “Roxy.”

In addition to appearing on the embedded YouTube playlist below, all songs featured on Music Discovery Monday can be listened to individually by clicking on the hyper-linked song titles above each review.
 

 

 

 ADAM WALDMAN – (Publisher, Hard Rock Daddy)

CRASH MIDNIGHT – “Roxy”

A lot of ‘80s hard rock has a distinctive sound that takes you on a journey back in time when you listen to it today.  The “decade of decadence” also delivered some timeless, gritty rock and roll that still feels as relevant today as it did back then.  There’s been a revival of a more classic rock sound in recent years, but not many bands have been able to capture the Appetite For Destruction era of Guns N’ Roses or the On Through The Night era of Def Leppard (when they were incredibly raw).  Crash Midnight infuses influences of both into their modern hard rock sound.  Not only does the music have just the right amount of sleaze, but the lyrics harken back to an era when sex, drugs and rock-n-roll were alive and well.

Like GNR, Crash Midnight isn’t afraid to rock the boat.  Their latest single, “Roxy,” has already created a stir with YouTube because of nudity (which is why the censored video is featured in this forum).  If you’re interested in seeing the uncensored version of the video (which I highly recommend), make sure to go to www.CrashMidnight.com and download the band’s new app.

 
In an exclusive interview with Crash Midnight frontman Shaun Soho, he shared the inspiration for the band’s latest single…
 

“A few years back, I was living in an apartment right in the heart of the old Boston ‘Combat Zone’ – a pretty notorious place (especially back in the 1960’s) where all sorts of crazy shit would go down.  These days, there are very few remnants left with everything being replaced by high-rises and high-priced coffee joints.  I liked the idea of doing a song based on the seedy underbelly of that area’s history.

We actually wanted to make the song parallel our experience as a band in the music industry.  You know, starting out thinking things were going to be perfect and everyone was going to help us…then getting chewed up, spit out, and prostituted up on stage like all the rest of the whores in this industry.  The opening line…‘Crashed town, young and fresh’ is supposed to allude to that, along with the (uncensored) music video not so subtly flashing back and forth from the girls on stage to us on stage.”

 

 
DEF LEPPARD – “Dangerous”

Eponymous albums usually happen very early on in a band’s career.  Def Leppard waited 35 years and 11 studio albums to release their self-titled album, but they did so for an interesting reason.  According to frontman Joe Elliott, “the album is just called Def Leppard because that’s what it sounds like.  It doesn’t sound like any one specific era of the band.  It’s got every single aspect of anything that we’ve ever wanted to put out – acoustic, heavy, soft, slow, fast.”  Elliott was referring to the mixture of songs on the album, but the explanation is accurate for the song “Dangerous,” which features the dirtier, heavy riffs the early ‘80s and the more polished vocal harmonies of the band’s more recent works.  It’s not quite a step back in time to the band’s first three albums, but longtime fans will appreciate the influences just the same.
 

 

 

 ANDY CHEUNG – HRD Music Scout

DEATH ANGEL – “Hatred United/United Hate”

I have been a Death Angel fan since The Ultra-Violence came out in 1987.  Despite their breakup and reforming with various lineup changes, I was more than a little excited when I heard that their new album (The Evil Divide) was to be released in May.  With the single “Hatred United/United Hate,” the band has proven once again that Death Angel will always be one of the top bands from the Bay Area thrash metal scene.  The song is trademark Death Angel.  Soft, melodic guitars start the song with odd-time signatures.  When the rest of the band comes in, you’re smacked against a brick wall of fast and heavy thrash metal.  Add the finger-numbing guitar solos, the gallop of the rhythm section and the screaming vocals, and you have one hell of a masterpiece of thrash metal songwriting.

 

HATEBREED – “Looking Down The Barrel Of Today”

Jamey Jasta and the boys from Hatebreed are back with their seventh studio album, The Concrete Confessional.  Hailing from New Haven, Connecticut, their brand of 3-minute songs of hardcore crossover metal has stayed the course over the past two decades.  It is lyrically powerful, political, thought-provoking, and often-times uplifting.  Hatebreed is a great example of how well-written songs can inspire and move the listener without relying on flashy guitar licks or progressive compositions.  Crank this up, groove, sing along, pump your fists and bang your heads!
 

 

 

ROB DELL’AQUILA – HRD Music Scout

DERDIAN – “Lord Of War”

Derdian is a symphonic metal band out of Italy.  This galloping song will be released on their upcoming album, Revolution Era (due out in just a few days).  It features the very talented and busy Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire, Vision Divine, Angra) on vocals.

 

JORN – “Stormbringer”

With elements of David Coverdale and Ronnie James Dio, Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande boasts one of the finest and most powerful voices in metal today.  On his upcoming album, Heavy Rock Radio (due out June 3rd), he pays tribute to some of his heroes: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Paul Stanley, Journey, Queen….and here, Deep Purple, on one of their David Coverdale classics.
 

 

 

   CHRIS HERZEGOVITCH – HRD Music Scout

UNIVERSAL MIND PROJECT – “Seven”

“Seven” is a great track from UMP’s debut album, The Jaguar Priest.  Formed back in 2012 by American guitarist and composer Michael Alexander, this immensely talented and dynamic Prog Metal group has an international veteran presence from members of Dream Theater, Waken Eyes, Darkwater, Stratovarius, Andromeda and others.

 

VOLBEAT – “The Bliss”

From the North American version of Volbeat’s upcoming release (Seal The Deal & Let’s Boogie), “The Bliss” is a bright, introspective, heavy and driving song that features a terrific vocal performance by Michael Poulsen.

 

SUBMISSIONS

To be considered for Music Discovery Monday, please e-mail a link to the song being submitted on YouTube and an artist bio to – submissions@MusicDiscoveryMonday.com