SWEDISH POST-CRUSTIES SIGNO ROJO ARE A DARK SOMETHING TO BEHOLD
More than twenty years ago I was interviewed by The Daily Texan, the University of Texas school newspaper, for my role (along with my still best friend, Ray Seggern) as co-host of “The Metal Show” for KTSB (now KVRX), the student-run radio station. One of the quotes I made then that still holds true to this day was that 85% of heavy metal was “crap,” and that the joy in being a metal DJ was finding the other 15% of diamonds in the rough and sharing it with others.
If anything, the crap quotient is probably a bit higher these days, what with so many people of less than stellar skills having cheap access to means of production and simple ways of distribution. Unfortunately, the level of song-writing skill hovers around the same mark, as least on a per capita basis. In other words, more bands simply means more crap to sift through.
The MetalSucks mailbox provides modern-day evidence that there is still a ton of crap out there and a lot of delusional people that think their shit don’t stink. On Monday, I told you guys about Archspire, a tech-death metal band that I truly dig. I had never heard of them before until I received an e-mail in the MetalSucks mailbox. I am happy to say, that another diamond has reared its ugly head.
Sweden’s Signo Rojo (from Blekinge, which apparently means “a pale nothing”) has been on heavy rotation in the Texas satellite office of the MetalSucks Mansion for the past twelve hours. According to the unsigned band’s hyperventilating press release, their “chestcavingly heavy!” debut record, promoalbum2011 (I guess that’s the name of it…), has been re-mixed and is now available on Bandcamp on a name-your-price basis (which includes free).
They compare themselves to Mastodon, Entombed, and Neurosis. I say throw in some Cult of Luna and Isis for good measure. In another words, it’s not the most original, but goddamn!! it smokes.
Now, here’s a bit of knowledge for you young upstarts out there. On Monday, I did a quick review of the new Arch Enemy video. As is usual these days, one commenter questioned the necessity of music videos.
Here’s why.
The only reason I bothered to listen to Signo Rojo was their inclusion of a clever and captivating music video. I recognized the screencap from the film Metropolis and decided to take a look-see. First, it let me know that these guys (or their director, at least) have great taste in films. Second, I appreciated how they used the clips from the film to illustrate their sound. Third, I love the fact that they basically went guerilla-style with the clips not knowing if it will eventually get pulled for copyright infringement (which it should not).
Check it out.
Great stuff.
Oh, and record labels, someone needs to sign these guys up, stat!
-CM
Corey Mitchell is a best-selling author of several true crime books. He also thinks “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” is slightly better than “Up In Smoke.”
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