Former Cro-Mags Guitarist Parris Mayhew’s New Band Aggros Dropped a New Single “Chaos Magic”
Vocalists and singers are an important part of any great band, but what if you’re so fucking badass and your riffs are so good that you didn’t need someone clutching a mic to get your point across? That’s exactly what you can expect from Aggros, a new instrumental hardcore/metal band hailing from the great city of New York.
As you’ll soon learn from the single below, titled “Chaos Magic,” former Cro-Mags guitarist/songwriter/founder Parris Mayhew has been working on a new record, titled Rise of the Aggros for roughly a year, spending each Saturday working on it at a friend’s studio in Brooklyn.
“I made this record in increments, like puzzle pieces, a drum track here, bass track there, recording where and when I could find a random storage room studio, an engineer who’d sneak me in after hours or finally a friend with a living room studio.”
For an album that was put together piecemeal over time, the initial singles sound cohesive as hell. From the get go, “Chaos Magic” builds to a riff heavy track that’s just as mosh-worthy as anything with a vocalist attached. In all honesty, the song’s nearly seven minutes long and the musical prowess on display in it shines through the dark and gritty imagery of a bygone NYC.
And while the riffs are heavy and “Chaos Magic” kicks all kids of ass, Mayhew said the “secret weapon” behind it is the inclusion of Crumbsuckers guitarist Chuck Lenihan.
“The album was taking shape as an LP, finally, when I suddenly thought of Chuck Lenihan. I always felt Chuck was a secret weapon who hadn’t been truly utilized since Crumbsuckers, at least in the way I wanted, because he is distinguishes himself in any band he performs with, but he has a specialized toolbox of musical skills you’d only know about if you knew him well and had heard his insane demos of multi-layered solos he made on an old four track recorder back in the day, I knew about those and knew Chuck’s hidden side was a musical puzzle piece that wasn’t for just any band. So I casually sent Chuck a track and said, ‘put a solo on this. Remember those crazy multi-layered solos you did back in the day, those insane licks with six harmonies, those Eddie Vai Engwie solos that I always rolled my eyes at? Well that’s the Chuck I want to hear.’ He wrote back “Ok” and then a few days later he sent me a stellar solo, that is featured on the remix of ‘Chaos Magic.’
Rise of the Aggros will be released this Wednesday, March 1, though you can preorder yourself a copy today, including an exclusive limited edition red transparent red color vinyl.
