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Let the Music Do the Talk’n…

Or a Great Review of the 4 Song EP “Neon Dead”

You can’t beat a bit of old school metal to get heads nodding and fists pumping especially when that metal comes wrapped up with searing lead guitar breaks and the sort of vocals that could put an air raid siren to shame. It is this flavour of metal, blended with a little 70’s hard rock swagger and a touch of doom(ish) dankness, that Atlanta. Georgia quintet Thrumm bring to the table with their debut EP “Neon Dead“, an amalgamation of old school melody and swing with new school grit and groove that will tick the boxes of fans of both.

“Neon Dead” is a little gem of an EP packed with everything good about heavy music, David Prince (guitar); Chris Abbamonte (guitar); Glen Williams (bass); Troy Wolf (drums) and Sean Shields (vocals) have together managed, on songs like “Overdrive“, “Morning After Judgement Day“, “Throwing Stoned” and title track “Neon Dead“, to take all the best bits from old school traditional heavy metal and substitute the bits they didn’t like with elements salvaged from 70’s classic rock and early proto- doom. Musically Thrumm are bang on the money, Abbamonte and Prince lay down a myriad of modern and retro flavoured riffs. licks and solos that draw from the full gamut of rock and metal while beneath them there is Williams and Wolf keeping things tight and solid with low growling bottom end and powerful punchy rhythms. The grooves these four musicians lay down are structured to accommodate vocals and it would take quite a vocalist to do them the justice they deserve, thankfully in Sean Shields they have such a vocalist. Shields voice is a jaw-dropping mix of smooth soulfulness and raw power, he doesn’t just hit notes he smashes through them with the ease of an opera singer, in his lower register he brings a gritty smokiness to bear, in his upper register he soars with a husky soulfulness that is, in places, reminiscent of Trapeze/Deep Purple MK III’s Glenn “The Voice of Rock” Hughes. Together these four musicians and their vocalist have created something very, very special indeed, a something worth hearing over and over again.
If old school metal is your thing but you have become a little bored with all the generic wannabees and copyists well then wrap an ear around Thrumm’s “Neon Dead” and its blending of traditional metal with elements of doom and classic rock, you will not regret it.

This article originally appeared on Desert Pyschlist by Frazer Jones