Rob Scallon Announces Original Album, Releases New Track “Gas Mask Catalogue”

UPDATE, 4:50pm EST: The Scene is Dead is not Scallon’s first solo album, as we claimed below. It is, however, his first solo METAL album.

Original Post:

What happens when metal YouTube stars known for cover songs and general shenanigans (i.e. “Shovel Metal“) endeavor to release original music?

There will be no better case study than Rob Scallon — The 23rd Most Important Person in Metal — who will find out this winter whether he can convert his 784,000+ YouTube subscribers into fans of his own material. Scallon’s had gobs of success already: in addition to the revenue he earns from ads displayed on his channel, his videos feature all sorts of sponsorships, he’s got his own custom guitar line with Chapman Guitars and endorses several other products. But will the guy who rode covers of Slayer and Cannibal Corpse on the banjo to fame be able to translate all that into a successful solo career?

He’s off to a good start so far. “Gas Mask Catalogue,” like all of the songs on the album, is named after a now defunct band from the Chicago suburbs that “made up our local metal scene growing up,” according to Scallon. Musically, it’s roughly in line with what you’d expect from Scallon given his past videos: it’s a bit djenty, but it’s actually way more death metal-oriented than I expected, not unlike something fellow metal YouTuber Keith Merrow would put out. A tasty guest guitar solo by Pete Cottrell — another member of the metal YouTube community! — gives it an even tastier flare.

The Scene is Dead comes out January 30th, and features guest spots from Jeff Loomis, Sarah Longfield, Ola Englund and more. Pre-order links:

$1 gets your name printed on the album: http://www.patreon.com/RobScallon
Preorder Vinyl: http://bit.ly/2iZDrgP
Preorder CD: http://bit.ly/2iAC4oa
Preorder digital on Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/2iWqYGO