Download the Daughters of Mara Debut/Only Album Completely for Free #hardrock

Daughters of Mara were a hard rock band from LA that released just one album on Virgin Records in 2007. A footnote in music history, really. But ever since Virgin gave that album the cold shoulder and it flopped commercially, a funny thing happened: it’s become something of a cult classic.

And that’s because it’s fucking fantastic. I Am Destroyer proves the following concept: that hard rock can be catchy and musically complex. The people I know who dig Daughters of Mara are often musicians and/or producers, people that appreciate top-shelf musicianship but also know how insanely difficult it is to write a good fucking song. I hate the “thinking man’s _____” tag because it’s overdone, but yeah… Daughters of Mara played thinking man’s hard rock.

The guitar riffs are also SUPER ballsy at times (courtesy guitarist from Submersed Eric Friedman), absolutely bordering on metal… perhaps Virgin decided this stuff was just too heavy for the radio, despite the melodic vocals. Dave Elitch — of Killer be Killed, ex-The Mars Volta, and session musician on a thousand and one pop records — delivered an absolutely stellar drum performance. Current Marilyn Manson bassist Andy Gerold and guitarist Patrick James rounded up the lineup, and Garth Richardson produced the effort.

For a more detailed history of the band, read this, written by a MetalSucks reader in 2011.

Band ringleader and vocalist Shawn Zuzek has now made a remastered version of I Am Destroyer available for completely free download. Presumably (hopefully?) the band has been released from their obligations with Virgin and Zuzek just decided to say fuck it, let the music be heard! Which it should be. There is an absolutely an audience for this stuff. Presumably (hopefully?) I didn’t just ruin it for everyone by bringing this to Virgin’s attention. So get it while it’s hot!

Thanks: David M.