Who had THE best metal song of 2016? Metallica? Nah… Testament? Some very good ones, but no. Death Angel? Nope. Megadeth… good too but not quite. How about Anthrax? Sorry, not this time. While it was a bit of a banner year for great releases from thrash metal veterans, there was one band who arguably released their best album in their 30+ year history and one song in particular that received the most plays on my iPod: Flotsam and Jetsam’s “Life Is A Mess”.
What is it about a combination of new blood and returning band members? Flots’ self titled release from 2016 (their twelfth studio album) is a serious kick ass tour de force featuring some excellent heavy tunes and epic playing across the board. The entire disc is a treat and hearkens back to some of their best material over the years but also touches on some newer vibes as well. “Life Is A Mess” is one of the thrashier numbers; just a non-stop banger with locomotive drumming from new boy Jason Bittner (ex-Shadows Fall) and solid riffing from the recently returning Michael Gilbert and newie Steve Conley, who combine their efforts (along with bassist Michael Spencer) to create a supreme pit friendly masterpiece. The cut does a great job of shifting between the two key riffs: the intro really sets the pace and grabs you immediately via a choppy yet bouncy riff pattern with some solid double kick work from Bittner before shifting into a second part around the chorus, where the riff and drums get more old school a la a heavier Judas Priest. Throw in that shift a couple of times and a ripping Gilbert solo and you’ll be pogoing in no time.
But what about the vocals? Can you say phenomenal? I’ve got a bias for Erik “AK” Knutson (check favorite singers posts a few months ago) and this song is a prime showcase for the man’s talents, especially at this stage of his career. For this style of music you need a singer who can reach above and beyond what the guitar, bass, and drums are doing: the vocals need to convey a certain level of grit, compassion, confidence, determination, and power that will push it to the next level. AK’s versatility is on display throughout the new Flots album but for full on punch ‘n menace there is nothing like “Life Is A Mess”. From the get go he’s a commanding presence as he belts a lyric about how you can’t just sit back and fear life itself but you need to take it head on. The song plays itself out more as a “hey, jump in the pit with us and forget your troubles for tonight” with AK as the ringleader. His enthusiastic delivery and the musical tango of the band members is so infectious that you just can’t say no.
For those of you looking to stretch beyond the boundaries of what’s called heavy rock or heavy metal these days, it would do you a world of good to download the recent Flotsam album. These guys may very well have been an influence on some of the new breed of today.
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I have to admit, I slipped away from trash a bit around my 2nd year of college when grunge took off. The combination of metal combined with classic rock and power pop captured my attention as I’d been wanting fresh takes on that sound throughout the 80s hair metal overexposure. That’s why I loved speed metal so much in the first place, to get away from that and find something new and fresh.
Soundgarden and Alice in Chains provided the metal, Pearl Jam, STP, and Nirvana provided the power pop, and Janes Addiction and the RHCP provided the trippy funk, all with heavy classic rock vibes thrown in. Special shout out to the Mimis locally to kickstart it all for what I’d been wanting to hear for a decade! (Special shout out to CJSS for providing pure local metal!)
So, other than Pantera probably, I missed focusing in on bands like Flotsam (and Fates Warning also comes immediately to mind). But after hearing “Wading Through the Darkness” yesterday on my shuffle, it hit me that I had completely neglected these guys, and I’d forgotten that I’d forgotten to post on here how awesome they are! This track is incredible, and I need to dig into their stuff much more! Kind of like Overkill, when the hell was the last time these guys were even here!? Would love to see them!
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Remember, early 90s seems to have been when ALL thrash bands followed “The Black Album” model- the music was generally heavy but the thrashiness disappeared. I’m sure that was due to record company pressure- Testament had “The Ritual”, Overkill had “I Hear Black”, Exodus and “Force Of Habit”, Megadeth and “Countdown”, Anthrax with Bush and “Sound Of White Noise”. In some ways that caused me to turn a bit like you did to the bands you mentioned, but I was always still looking for that thrashy element. However that now seemed only to be found in black/death metal, which took me YEARS to get into. I can remember listening to “Heartwork” from Carcass and thinking the riffs were incredible but when that vocal kicked in it was too much at the time. Like a lot of that now though.
Flots… I do have all of them either downloaded or purchased on CD. Lots of thrashiness but also quite a bit in that “Wading Through The Darkness” vibe as well as Pantera groove in some mid period albums (ironically Overkill got groovy at the same time too). I think you’ll like their stuff.
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