Jagged Doctrine is an industrial metal project that has reactivated after a 9-year hiatus to bring us their latest offering “Eve of Destruction” on Roxx Records. Formed in the late 90s as a collaboration between guitarist Rod Middleton and keyboardist Gary Baker, they have roots in industrial metal that has an experimental bend. Connecting the dots, this project has a truly independent spirit with a significant independently released discography staying true to their vision for JD. As such, I would say you should approach this project with and open mind. Besides this project, Rod and Gary have collaborated on various other musical projects including licensing tracks for MTV and composing a sound track for a book series.
“Eve of Destruction” continues the intermingling of electronica and heavy metal into a unique blend that is a throwback to the 90s with a slight tinge of avant-garde. Rod and Gary have recruited the inimitable talents of Dale Thompson (Bride) to take on the lead vocals for this album, while they focused on weaving the industrial complex underneath. There is a sizable guest list of musicians contributing to the recording, some of which are attached to the progressive metal band Perspective X IV which might or might not be working on new material.
This album is not typical for us although the musicians and/or the bands they hail from should be somewhat familiar. Tom Englund (Evergrey, Redemption) and Vikram Shankar (Redemption) are members of metal bands that have produced some quite good music within our usual wheelhouse. Silent Skies is going to be a stretch sonically for die-hard metal or hard rock fans out there. However, for the adventurous and open, this is a highly recommended release.
I only recently have become familiar with Wytch Hazel and have become quite enamored with their unique sound, middle-ages imagery and inspiring message. Earlier this year, I went to visit my Mom before she passed away. The day after she passed away, I noticed that “IV: Sacrament” was released on Spotify and streamed it while doing funeral prep work in my hotel room. Needless to say this album is somewhat important to me personally, but as a good music reviewer, I’ll keep things as unbiased as possible.
Landon Cripe showed a talent for music at a young age. From age 9 to 14, he trained in classical piano winning a prestigious Bach Festival competition at the age of 12. But his axe changed to guitar after watching Marty McFly play guitar in “Back to the Future.” After a rough time in his teens, music was put on hold. After 15 years of heavy drug and alcohol abuse, Landon was admitted into a rehab facility in 2012 to begin the healing process. In 2015, Landon took to the studio to record a song on his own which garnered the attention of Ronnie Winter (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) when he played the song for him in a chance meeting. Shortly thereafter Minor Rockstar was formed with Landon as the frontman.
Those into progressive rock should need no introduction to Neal Morse, but for the rest of us, some introduction would be helpful. First off the presence of Steve Morse (Deep Purple) on many of Neal’s projects instantly made me curious being a longtime Deep Purple fan and then when you add in Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) also being involved in many of Neal’s projects, you start to get a picture of why the progressive rock tie exists and also the quality of people Neal can bring in. If we go back to 1992, Neal formed the prog rock band Spock’s Beard which went on to some acclaim followed by Transatlantic and after Neal’s conversion to Christianity, he formed several bands with Portnoy including Yellow Matter Custard, Flying Colors, and the Neal Morse Band. Neal has released several concept albums about Christianity and Christian themes starting with Testimony (2003) and more recently,