Samantha Michelle
I’ve known of Samantha for a while now, due to her work in a couple of other projects which we’ve featured, all of which have been damned, damned heavy. As such, when she dropped me a line saying she’d put together some work of her own, without association with the other bands, I was interested to see what sort of thing she was up to in her own time. As such, I clicked the link, hit play and sat back ready to hear what was going on!
Kicking into The Infinite Mind there’s an ominous feeling, one of a combination of dark sounds, digital effects, and a sense of the unknown as to what’s going to follow this point. As the eerie vocal leads us into the track bit by bit, gradually this sense of the unknown builds before we’re naturally led into The Waves Are Crashing Down, a ‘twangy’ guitar sound greeting us before launching us into an upbeat, almost nu-metal esque drum line. Throwing all of the softness out of the window, the riff which continues the build soon reaches a crescendo, accompanied by gravelly and hard vocals, offering up a sound which is dark, foreboding and powerful.
Refusing to accept convention is something which comes naturally to Samantha, and this track is no exception. Jumping from style to style, the track is almost a handbook on different approaches and styles, each moment offering a slightly different take on things whilst still managing to retain a sense of continuity throughout. Comparing this to the other stuff that Samantha has been involved with there’s a massive difference, this is more upbeat and accessible than some of the heavier stuff she’s put together, resulting in a sound that you can get into, nod along to, and fully embrace without fearing what’s around the corner and what power is about to be unleashed.
Progressing onto the final track, The Gnurns, once again there’s no sense of convention but instead, a sludgy and powerful, almost tribal display of all out power. To me, there’s similarities (musically) here to the likes of Soulfly and Sepultura, offering up that distorted and powerful approach accompanied by roaring, screechy vocals and an inkling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Powerful, bass heavy and the sort of thing that you can quite happily crank on at full volume, safe in the knowledge that it’ll upset your neighbours, the three tracks on offer here come to a close but leave me with one question – when are we going to get some more.
It’s always hard to take a completely unbiased approach to music when you’ve heard something by that artist before, but what’s interesting here is that Samantha has completely removed herself from the realms of her other projects (so much so that I refuse to mention the names) and has produced three tracks which all follow one another, all demonstrate her understanding of music, and all come together in a big ball of distortion. I know that we’ll be hearing more from her in the near future, whether it be this project or others, but I’m already looking forward to it.
Words: Dave Nicholls
Kicking into The Infinite Mind there’s an ominous feeling, one of a combination of dark sounds, digital effects, and a sense of the unknown as to what’s going to follow this point. As the eerie vocal leads us into the track bit by bit, gradually this sense of the unknown builds before we’re naturally led into The Waves Are Crashing Down, a ‘twangy’ guitar sound greeting us before launching us into an upbeat, almost nu-metal esque drum line. Throwing all of the softness out of the window, the riff which continues the build soon reaches a crescendo, accompanied by gravelly and hard vocals, offering up a sound which is dark, foreboding and powerful.
Refusing to accept convention is something which comes naturally to Samantha, and this track is no exception. Jumping from style to style, the track is almost a handbook on different approaches and styles, each moment offering a slightly different take on things whilst still managing to retain a sense of continuity throughout. Comparing this to the other stuff that Samantha has been involved with there’s a massive difference, this is more upbeat and accessible than some of the heavier stuff she’s put together, resulting in a sound that you can get into, nod along to, and fully embrace without fearing what’s around the corner and what power is about to be unleashed.
Progressing onto the final track, The Gnurns, once again there’s no sense of convention but instead, a sludgy and powerful, almost tribal display of all out power. To me, there’s similarities (musically) here to the likes of Soulfly and Sepultura, offering up that distorted and powerful approach accompanied by roaring, screechy vocals and an inkling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Powerful, bass heavy and the sort of thing that you can quite happily crank on at full volume, safe in the knowledge that it’ll upset your neighbours, the three tracks on offer here come to a close but leave me with one question – when are we going to get some more.
It’s always hard to take a completely unbiased approach to music when you’ve heard something by that artist before, but what’s interesting here is that Samantha has completely removed herself from the realms of her other projects (so much so that I refuse to mention the names) and has produced three tracks which all follow one another, all demonstrate her understanding of music, and all come together in a big ball of distortion. I know that we’ll be hearing more from her in the near future, whether it be this project or others, but I’m already looking forward to it.
Words: Dave Nicholls
