Hump Day Hot Ticket: Iliad “He Knows You Know”

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In my search for music, I write about bands of varying age and popularity. Usually a quick Google search provides the most basic information about any band from any area. However, this might be a first for me: a band so new that even Google can't find them!

I wish I had more to write about this band, Iliad—I think they might be from the UK—but all I have is this video, which is how I found this band in the first place. The song is a cover, originally done by Marillion, one of my favorite prog-rock bands (at this point, prog purists will jump in and insist that Marillion is “neo-prog”—whatever that's supposed to mean—have fun with your labels!). The song was shared on the official Facebook page of Marillion's original singer, Fish, which is how I heard this cover.

“He Knows You Know” is a dark song with even darker lyrical content; it's sinister tone always so perfect for metal. Iliad takes the song's underlying frantic anxiety, and pushes it to the forefront, giving this song about drug addiction that extra degree of delirious obsession.

The lyric video provides perfect visuals: a sketch of clawing fingernails during the line “crawling up your bathroom wall”; a shot of a toilet at the lyric “singing psychedelic phrases to the depths of the china bowl”, and the image of a pale, strung-out junkie staring into a mirror, dark circles under his emotionless eyes. The most jarring visual comes when an image is displayed of a faceless addict sorting out lines of cocaine, as the lyric “he's got experience...he knows you know” scrolls across the screen.

For more information on Iliad, visit their official Facebook page.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Polarys “Trapped in the Hub”

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As many bands from Italy that I have reviewed here on this blog, I have only visited France one other time before this week's entry; which is a bit of a shame, because France has produced some pretty solid music from what I have heard. One thing about the French metal scene that I like (again, just based on the bands I have heard) is that they have this exceptional skill at combining genres that, in theory, do not sound as though they belong together; yet when they blend these sounds, it creates something so cool and unique that you wonder why more bands don't try their hand at such musical concoctions.

For example, the band I am reviewing this week is a band from Paris called Polarys, who describes their sound as “futuristic prog-power metal”, mixed with thrash elements and guttural vocals. A visit to the band's Facebook shows a list of their major musical influences, two among them being Slayer and Dream Theater. Come to think of it, those two bands might be a good way to describe the music of Polarys: imagine if Dream Theater and Slayer had a child together, and Polarys would be it.

In their latest video for the song “Trapped in the Hub”, Polarys gives viewers a glimpse into their “futuristic prog-power metal” world: the band performs in what looks like an engine control room, or some sort of underground holding cell (literally “trapped in the hub”?). Some smoke and lighting tricks give an eerie feel, and well-placed camera angles suggest that something is watching through the dark crevices, as they look above them for an escape route.

For more information on Polarys, visit their official website.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Omnislash “Metalliation Revengeance (Slash ’em All)”

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“Conceived when the mighty cock of heavy metal spilled its unholy seed into an active volcano”, or so the legend goes as to the origins of Baltimore-based power-thrash band Omnislash. Quite a descriptive account at any rate, the band defines themselves as “historical power thrash”, or good-old fashioned heavy metal for those of you who aren't exactly sure what all these labels mean.

After winning over audiences across Maryland and beyond with their debut album in 2015, Omnislash is back with a second offering titled Slash ’em All, which promises to be just as brutal as the first record. The music is fun, and you can tell the band is all about having a good time and never taking themselves too seriously.

Proof of that is in the band's new video for the track “Metalliation Revengeance (Slash ’em All)”, a 7-minute throwback to the good old days of MTV (they even use the same white font that famously bookended the videos, letting the viewer know what they were watching). The video is filmed at a restaurant in the Baltimore area called Crabtowne, U.S.A.; and we start off with a bad-ass metal dude slowly walking into the diner as ominous-sounding music plays in the background. He enters a rec room area, where there are wall-to-wall old-school arcade video games, pinball machines, and everything else that sparks the nostalgia of an ’80s kid. Amid the beeps and whistles of the machines, he approaches one of them, opens a flask, and starts drinking his booze through a crazy straw. He puts a quarter into the machine and proceeds to get his game on.

The graphics are pure ’80s cheesy goodness as we see that the video game is the same title as the song. The hilarity ensues when there is a jolt of electricity, and the entire band shows up as an electronic video game theme plays in the background. Soon the band jumps in and starts playing. From there it cuts to live shots of Omnislash playing onstage to an enthusiastic crowd. This is some awesome power metal (with some funky bass to boot). Back at Crabtowne, the guys in the band are riding the little electric ponies and go-karts, dancing around the room, while the bad-ass metal dude at the video game machine continues drinking his booze, completely unfazed by the shenanigans taking place. One of the guys plays his guitar solo on the toilet. Props to the drummer, who is wearing an old-school Legend of Zelda t-shirt! Back to the live shots; the band has a very enthusiastic mosh pit! These guys look like they are fun to hang out with, but at the end of the video, the guy with the booze doesn't seem very impressed with all of this. He actually wants his quarter back!

For more information on Omnislash, visit their official website.

Special thanks to Jeremy Phoenix.