Snakeblade , the one-man project of Mike Redston, came about during the Covid lockdown. He was searching for an escape from pandemic anxiety, and quickly absorbed himself in this project and recorded his first release “The Kingdom” in a month. To deepen the escape, all his lyrics surround fantasy concepts from his favorite video games and movies. Redston coins his music as “One-Man Nerdy’n’Dirty Black Metal” and this nerdiness continues with his second album “The Curse” as he explains:
“Snakeblade is where all my nerdiness gets released. On “The Curse”, I wanted to zero-in on one of my all-time favorite fantasy series - Game of Thrones. As I started writing though, more personal experiences started to creep into my lyrics. What came out is a melting pot of themes from Game of Thrones and my personal shit. Lyrics inspired from GOT mostly revolve around the plot lines of The Red Woman, Stannis Baratheon, and The Lord of Light religion. Mix all this with my own experiences of betrayal, failure, and rage and you’ve got The Curse.”
The second full-length is quite an evolution from the experience of the first. Where “The Kingdom” was an escape from reality; through “The Curse ” Redston confronts reality head-on. Musically, the project has grown immensely in complexity and scale and a session drummer was hired to handle the kit. The songs are much more emotional and heavy and full of new orchestral elements of strings, pianos, and choirs. Overall, it’s much darker atmospherically and more sophisticated sonically.
Snakeblade isn’t destined to be a studio project forever, Redston says, “ Live shows are definitely in the cards as I want to bring these songs to a concert setting with a ton of energy and a fun atmosphere. ”
“The Curse” is ten tracks of dark, dirty, and epic non-traditional black metal, and has a total running time of 43 minutes. It was written and performed by Redston except for the drums, which were performed by Dennis Kraakman. The album artwork was done by Elizabeth Holmes.
Snakeblade embraces a wide variety of metal subgenres and is recommended for fans of Skeletonwitch, Dimmu Borgir, and Death.
“The Curse” is streaming now via Bravewords before its full release on October 13, 2021.
Listen HERE .
Album pre-order - https://snakeblade.bandcamp.com/album/the-curse" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://snakeblade.bandcamp.com/album/the-curse&source=gmail&ust=1634158582056000&usg=AFQjCNFJu6b5YsMksSVIb-IyZw4e9prQJw" rel="noopener"> https://snakeblade.bandcamp.
Track Listing:
1. Destiny (Intro) (1:42)
2. Rotten Souls (6:48)
3. Harvester (3:35)
4. Dreams of Aida (1:53)
5. The Red Mage’s Seduction (6:01)
6. Foul Sorcery of Flame and Shadow (5:04)
7. Godswood (2:28)
8. Born Among Salt and Smoke (5:46)
9. Archways (3:05)
10. Exile, Outlaw… The Essence (6:34)
Album Length: 42:56
Album Credits:
• All songs performed by: Mike Redston
Drums performed by Dennis Kraakman
Artwork by Elizabeth Holmes
'Dreams of Aida' co-produced with Macca Grills
'Godswood' co-produced with Logan Macdonald
• All songs written by: Mike Redston
• Produced by: Mike Redston
• Album Artwork by: Elizabeth Holmes
• Member of SOCAN
• Music is Canadian Content (MAPL)
Album Band Line Up:
Mike Redston – Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar,
Dennis Kraakman - Drums
For more info:
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About:
Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Snakeblade was formed by Mike Redston as an escapist project while the entire world was quarantined. What came out of this anxious time may surprise you though, as Snakeblade refuses to follow typical one-man black metal trends. Every song on their debut album The Kingdom explodes with energy and youthful rage, delivering a pummelling of riffs, blastbeats, and shrieking vocals. With lyrical topics of fantasy, medieval battles, lord of the rings, and video games, Snakeblade is a headbanging nerd’s wet dream. Now on their second effort, the one-man project delves into bold new territory adding orchestral and electro elements to the blackened thrashy chaos that is: The Curse.
Discography:
2020 - The Kingdom
2021 - The Curse
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