Mutoid Man, Royal Thunder, Unwed

There was a buzz about Mutoid Man before they ever even took the stage. Like many 'members-of' projects, there was an automatic interest in what heady metal luminaries Steve Brodsky (Cave In) and Ben Koller (Converge, All Pigs Must Die) were working on in their tiny Brooklyn practice space. By the time they played their first show in the fall of 2013, their debut EP was already recorded and off at the vinyl pressing plant. And while many side projects maintain a brief lifespan by piquing the interest of their primary bands' fans, Mutoid Man achieved the rare feat of not only holding that interest, but also drawing in a new audience from outside their established circles. Given a spin of their Helium Head 12" or a glimpse of their rare live performance, it's no wonder that Brodsky and Koller were able to ascend beyond their side-project novelty status. This is no self-indulgent sonic experiment, no tepid throwaway-track recycling project, no musical 180° into cringe-worthy territory. Instead, Mutoid Man offers up the best of Brodsky and Koller's respective worlds. Brodsky distills the melodicism and metallurgy of Cave In into a concentrated elixir of frantic fretboard work, big riffs, and undeniable vocal hooks. Koller continues to batter his drums with unmatched force and dexterity. With the recruitment of bassist Nick Cageao and his driving low-end growl, Mutoid Man quickly established themselves as one of the dominant new power trios in the world of heavy music.

While Helium Head wasn't a severe sonic departure from its makers' previous endeavors, it still offered up a kind of frenzied excitement and ecstatic energy that was new territory for its members. With their debut full-length, Bleeder, Mutoid Man proves that the euphoric fury of their EP was no fluke. Recorded by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, Bleeder builds upon the triumphant barrage of Helium Head with bigger production, increased ferocity, and the bolstered confidence from writing as a three-piece unit. The band storms out of the gate with "Bridgeburner", a galloping blitzkrieg of NWOBHM guitar leads, hardcore tempos, and a pummeling climax of bottom-heavy riffage. The album continues on like a gluttonous orgy of every metal indulgence the band has held since junior high school. It's as if there was an amalgam of all these realms of heavy rock music that hadn't yet been attempted, and Mutoid Man have nailed it with such precision that it comes across like a grand epiphany. "Reptilian Soul" and "Sweet Ivy" marry the warped guitar lines of the Hydra Head catalog to balls-to-the-wall rock choruses; "1000 Mile Stare" and "Soft Spot In My Skull" pair Robert Fripp-level prog shredding against a virulent strain of thrash metal; "Surveillance" and "Deadlock" showcase Koller's lightning-fast blast beats against thunderous drop-tuned riffs; "Dead Dreams" beefs up sludge metal to cataclysmic proportions. By the time the band reaches the closing track "Bleeder", they've blown through so many breeds of maleficence that they can effortlessly jump between power-metal balladry, apocalyptic doom, and Dio-era Sabbath.

Mutoid Man was initially meant to be an exercise in flexing the creative chops outside of the members' other projects. But if Helium Head proved that this musical diversion was serious business, Bleeder confirms that Mutoid Man are an imposing force regardless of their pedigree. Written in concentrated flurries between their other musical duties, Bleeder exudes the short bursts of manic energy that typified their creative process. There is no time to sit and ponder the bigger picture, no reason to search for subtlety—once the album launches into the first riff of "Bridgeburner", there is no surrender, no apologies, and no relenting until the final crash and chug of the closing title track. Clocking in at just under half-an-hour, Bleeder seizes upon the same concentrated ferocity of classics like Reign In Blood. And with songs as good as these, Bleeder is sure to become a classic in its own right.

Written by - Brian Cook


Royal Thunder is a four-piece rock band based out of Atlanta, Georgia that seamlessly blends the timeless elements of heavy classic rock, 90's grunge and forward thinking progressive rock. Propelled by the powerfully emotional voice of frontwoman Mlny Parsonz, guitar heroics of Josh Weaver and dynamic drums of Evan Diprima, Royal Thunder has been described by NPR as “a revved-up Southern hard-rock that howls like Led Zeppelin astride a psychedelic unicorn.”, "magnificently compelling rock music" by Decibel Magazine. Formed in 2004 by Weaver his brother and his best friend, the band went through several lineup changes over the years until settling on their current lineup which also added second guitarist Will Fiore as of 2015.

Since Diprima joined in October 2012, the band has been heavily touring the world including full North American / Euro Tours with Baroness and North American Tours Monster Magnet, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Pallbearer, Enslaved, Corrosion of Conformity, O'Brother and many more. The group has also played high profile festivals including SXSW, Bonnaroo, Scion Rock Fest, Bragg Jam, Roadburn, and numerous others.

In 2007 Royal Thunder self-released their debut EP and started touring with Jesse Stuber on drums. By 2010 Relapse Records took notice and signed the band starting with an official re-release of their self-titled EP and later in 2012 releasing their full length debut, CVI. Stuber left the band after CVI was complete and Lee Smith joined at that time on drums and also played on the last track of CVI, "Black Water Vision". The band toured with Lee Smith and Josh Coleman (who also joined during the making of CVI on second guitar) for a few US tours.

CVI was widely praised by critics including Rolling Stone's David Fricke who said Weaver’s playing has “the meaty, base elements of early-Seventies British blues” and Metal Hammer Magazine who stated "Through the powerhouse vocals of Mlny Parsonz and a refusal to keep their sound boxed, Royal Thunder look set to be the underground's next big breakout stars”. Other publications like SPIN called the album "stunning" while Revolver Magazine described it as "essential" and The Guardian called them "elegantly powerful" and compared them to prime Led Zeppelin.

In between a heavy touring schedule during 2013 the band recorded CVI: A; an acoustic rendition of three songs from CVI. The band then entered the studio once more in January of 2014 to begin their sophomore LP, Crooked Doors which was once again recorded, produced, and engineered by Joey Jones of Aria Recording Studio; whom the band has a long standing working and personal relationship.

Crooked Doors is set to be released worldwide in April of 2015 via Relapse Records and has already appeared on numerous anticipated albums lists.


The “this is what you get when you leave the band in charge of their own Bio”, Bio…

By: Jason Black



Neltie and I met sometime in the late 90s. She worked at the Creepy Crawl in St. Louis and Hot Water Music played there pretty regularly. Last fall, HWM toured with Rise Against, who Neltie was working for. She ended up playing me stuff she had recorded and we talked about the possibility of writing some songs together. About a month or so after the tour we decided to make a go of it even though we were living on opposite sides of the country.



At the time I was living in Portland working on another project and she was living in NYC. In my free time I started demoing what would end up becoming “Made Of” I had worked up a version with guitars, bass, and a drum machine and sent it to her to put vocals on. What she sent back kinda blew my mind. Her indelible knack for writing melodies so catchy yet so dark put a interesting twist on the songs. After that, we began looking for other people to work with, and the first person that came to mind was Arthur Shepherd.



I’ve known Arty for almost as long as I’ve known Neltie. One of Arty’s old bands—Error Type: 11—was on the same label as HWM for a bit and we did quite a few shows and tours together. HWM had actually ended up playing a last minute show at Arty’s bar in Brooklyn—St Vitus—last fall, so I had been in recent contact with him. I sent him the version of “Made Of” that we had demoed, and he added a guitar part that took the song to an entirely different level. The next song we sent him would eventually become “The Innocent,” and he did the same thing to that but ratcheted the bar up even higher with some insanely cool backing vocals. Things really started to lock in.



At this point, we had cemented the fact that the 3 of us wanted to do a band. My project in Portland had come to an end and I decided to pick up and move to NYC. We initially enlisted George Rebelo on drums, but due to geography he sadly wasn’t going to be a viable option, so we started looking locally. Neltie and I had run into Jeff Gensterblum and a light bulb went off. We were both fans of Small Brown Bike and knew he was a solid and dynamic drummer, exactly what we needed. So we hit him up to see if he’d be interested. Even though he was in like 2000 bands at the time he was eager to start yet another project.



As we started working on songs together, it became apparent that we would need another guitar player. Matt came highly suggested by both Arty and Jeff. Arty and he go way back and Jeff had been hoping to get (yet another) project going with Matt for quite a while. The first rehearsal we had with Matt was awesome—he nailed everything and after just a few practices started bringing another integral layer to our sound. We had a band.



The “this is what the band sounds like described by a me part of the Bio”, Bio

This is quite possibly the hardest question for me to answer. The references by friends and colleagues are all over the map. “Killing Joke”, “Ride”, “Queens of the Stone Age”, “Danzig”, Everytime I die” huh?, and even “Holy Crap! This is not what I was expecting, can I get copy”. But I think the band agrees. When it comes down to it, you either like it or you don’t. Either way, we are having a blast doing it.