Escape from the mindlessness of quarantine in the past 10 months has been difficult for many. One of the best things about quarantine though has been the explosion of new music coming from artists who have had nothing but time to sit around and come up with new material since their public concert dreams have been squashed by a virus that has put us all in a funk.
Well tell that funk is told to shut up as progressive/power
metal group IMMORTAL GUARDIAN has a new album coming out in February entitled ‘Psychosomatic’
that will bring new life to your immortal soul and make you re-think that rock
and metal is dead. This second full-length album is one of our favorite types
of albums a ‘transition album’ in which each track flows directly into the next
when listening from start to finish. An art lost among many artists is brough
to fruition in the best way with ‘Psychosomatic’ and for fans of being able to
lose themselves in an album, this particular album from IMMORTAL GUARDIAN delivers
in full.
The vocals of Carlos Zema find a full range of clean screaming in the title
track ‘Psychosomatic’ to ballad suave that comes forth in ‘Candlelight.’ The
guitar riffs throughout the album from Gabriel Guardian put him up there with
some of the best guitarists in rock history. Hello, Slash are you listening?
Add in the powerful melodic bass of Texas’ own Josh Lopez and cure for listlessness
drumming of Justin Pie3dimonte from Montreal, Quebec, and you have one of the best
hard rock/metal ensembles that we have seen in over a decade.
From start to finish, ‘Psychosomatic’ delivers a one-two punch in metal that will have classic fans of bands like Dragonforce, Iron Maiden, and Symphony X screaming for more while dragging in a new modern audience that will appreciate the fresh artistic ensemble talent of North America’s best metal group to date. There is not one track on this album that disappoints to those that appreciate balanced music and not adding these tracks into normal listening rotation is a mistake for anyone who genuinely enjoys melodic metal.
On A scale of 10, we give ‘Psychosomatic’ a solid 9.
‘Psychosomatic’ releases on February 12, 2021 from M-Theory.
Psychosomatic track list:
1.
Psychosomatic (5:33)
2. Read Between The Lines (6:01)
3. Lockdown (4:12)
4. Phobia (6:13)
5. Clocks (5:12)
6. Self-Isolation (0:39)
7. Goodbye To Farewells (5:50)
8. Candlelight (5:24)
9. Find A Reason (7:00)
10. New Day Rising (5:56)
About IMMORTAL GUARDIAN:
The seeds of progressive/power metal group IMMORTAL GUARDIAN were sown
by band founder and native Texan Gabriel Guardian in 2008. The
guitarist/keyboardist began his mission of delivering “super metal” packed with
melody and shred, and the group would begin evolving into its current form with
two acclaimed self-released EP’s, 2013’s “Super Metal: Edition Z” and 2014’s
“Revolution Part I”, the latter produced by Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson/Halford).
The EP’s showcased Guardian’s full-frontal assault of anthemic melodies,
technical rhythms, and furious shred, and were augmented by the high-energy,
high-flying vocals of Carlos Zema, who had already built his name through stints
with respected Brazilian power metallers Heaven’s Guardian and Houston
progressive-metal act Outworld.
IMMORTAL
GUARDIAN began building their following throughout their home state of Texas
with live performances alongside some of the biggest names in heavy metal,
including Judas Priest, Dragonforce, Kamelot, Symphony X, Sonata Arctica,
Slayer, Metal Church, Soilwork, and Steve Vai. The buzz that has been built by
their EP’s and live performances led to the group signing with M-Theory Audio
for the release of their 2018 full-length debut, “Age of Revolution”. The album
was hailed by MetalSucks as “seriously epic”, and by Angry Metal Guy as the
“front-runner power metal record of the year.” The band was applauded by
Metal-Observer as “stylistically trail-blazing” and by Metal Utopia for its
combination of “technicality, diversity, and power.” IMMORTAL GUARDIAN further
cemented their reputation as a thrilling live act by touring relentlessly for
the next eighteen months, touring nationally in support of fellow shredders
such as Marty Friedman, Powerglove, and Exmortus. The group also spread their
brand of melodic progressive/power metal worldwide by performing in countries
as far-and-wide as Russia and Brazil, and with high-profile performances at
ESPN’s X-Games, South by Southwest, and Fun Fun Fun Fest.
IMMORTAL
GUARDIAN guitarist/founder Gabriel Guardian also has a very active presence on
YouTube, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on the platform for his
self-produced videos showing off his uncanny ability to play guitar and
keyboard simultaneously. His cover of “Sweet of Child O’ Mine” was shared on
Facebook by Guns N’ Roses themselves and received over one million views within
24 hours, and other dual-instrument covers of songs by the likes of Iron Maiden
and Pantera have also won over social media audiences. Guardian’s abilities
have also been showcased on the MTV series, “Amazingness”.
Gabriel
Guardian and Carlos Zema gathered in Las Vegas at the beginning of 2020
alongside new drummer Justin Piedimonte and bassist Joshua Lopez to record the
second IMMORTAL GUARDIAN full-length album. As the spread of COVID-19 and the
subsequent pandemic began to ensue, each member of the band retreated to their
respective hometowns. With shutdowns around the world being enforced, the band
completely scrapped the record that they had been working on and were heavily
inspired to write and create a new thematic record about their emotions
surrounding current events. The resulting album, “Psychosomatic” (set for
release Feb. 12, 2021 on M-Theory Audio) was a truly multi-national record,
with guitarist/keyboardist Guardian remaining in Las Vegas, Zema recording his
vocals from his home in Brazil, Piedimonte recording his drumming performances
in his hometown in Montreal, Canada, and Lopez recording bass guitar in
IMMORTAL GUARDIAN’s native Texas. In addition to his new role as the group’s
bassist, Lopez also handled recording engineer duties on the new album, as he
had on the group’s previous record, “Age of Revolution”.
Despite
the challenges presented by the global pandemic, “Psychosomatic” is the next
step in IMMORTAL GUARDIAN’s evolution while still capturing the band’s
exhilarating trademark melding of melodic power metal with progressive/shred
tendencies.
Discography:
2021
– Psychosomatic (M-Theory Audio)
2018
– Age of Revolution (M-Theory Audio)
2014
– Revolution, Part 1 (EP)
2013
– Super Metal: Edition Z (EP)
IMMORTAL GUARDIAN:
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INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/immortal_guardian/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/igmetal