Every once in a
while you get an album whereby you can listen through its interity
without skipping or fast forwarding through tracks. To start off
there are some fairly well known participants on this release, well
at least for this old coot that is. If you have not had your head
buried in the sand, the names Joshua Lory, Jim Chaffin, and Skot Shaw
should be familiar sounding to you, especially in the Christian
alternative, punk, gothic, metal and Industrial scene. Do bands like,
LSU, Mike Knott, Crucified, The Blamed, Deliverance and Leper ring
any bells? Well according to me if you have not heard any of these
bands listed, or perhaps one of these individuals mentioned then dude
you have been living in a closet, and a really dark, dank one. My
friend the only advice then is that you need educating, because part
of the appreciation of this album, is knowing where these guys come
from, who they are and what they have managed to achieve each in
their own right on a musical level.
So what’s happening here? Well on September 18, 2020, out of Santa Cruz, California the full length release entitled “Annihilate The Adversary” will be released by the Fortuna, California, based punk band Cast The Dragon. It is a mix of Dark, brooding punk rock with a hint of gothic elegance woven throughout 15 blistering tracks. Joshua Lory’s baritone vocals interplay with anthemic guitars, haunting keyboards and punishing drums. Uncompromising lyrical content focused on keeping God at the center of all things through Jesus/Yeshua our Messiah. The band’s full tilt sound is reminiscent of The Damned, TSOL, Misfits and Scaterd Few. Again get yourself educated on these other bands too, as they are not just sound comparatives but also quality of playing comparatives on this album. The album cover art done by Nick Abraham reminds me in a way of some of the art work that came out for a few mid 80’s thrash and speed metal bands and I am sure for some very conservative folk might seem a little bit out there for them to swallow, yet for me the picture is a representation of the content within, and the album deals with a lot of issues and topics that in turn with the correct mobilization can “Annihilate The Adversary”.
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