THE BEAST

"Buried Alive", the new video from former PANTERA bassist Rex Brown, can be seen below. The track is taken from Rex's debut solo album, " Smoke On This", which will be released on July 28 via Entertainment One (eOne). The disc marks the first time in Brown's career in which he serves as both lead vocalist and guitarist in a band.

For "Buried Alive", Rex re-teamed with Justin Reich (Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley), who also directed the video for "Train Song".

"Justin once again did a fantastic job," says Brown. "The video captures every bit of emotion I had when I was writing the song as it's a very personal song for me."

The video was shot in Nashville, Tennessee where the record itself was recorded and produced. Rex's bandmates are also featured in the video. Lance Harvill, who also co-wrote most of the LP with Brown, plays lead guitar. Joe Shadid plays rhythm guitar and TYPE O NEGATIVE/DANZIG member Johnny Kelly plays drums. Caleb Sherman can be seen on keyboards and lap steel as well.

"Buried Alive", "Train Song" and "Crossing Lines" are now available on all streaming platforms and as iTunes instant-gratification tracks, meaning fans who pre-order the LP today will get the tracks instantly.

Brown's solo debut strips away any boundaries and preconceived notions, reveling in a newfound freedom to express all of the various shades of the man whose name is out front. The song "Fault Line" helped him find his voice. "That was the very first one I sang," Brown said. "After I got that one, I knew that I could do it, and Lance was my biggest motivator in finding that voice. Up until that point, I just wasn't sure."

From there, there's the brilliantly straightforward "Lone Rider", the monstrous "In Through The Out Door" vibe of "Crossing Lines", the PINK FLOYD reverence of "Best Of Me". "Get Yourself Alive" is something of an ode to "Strawberry Fields Forever", but with a swift kick of rock 'n' roll. It's rich in nuance, with Indian tandoori and layers of vocals. The extremely catchy "Grace" is "something you would never expect to hear off a Rex Brown record and that's exactly why I did it," he said. "It's just a really great song, period. Bottom line."

Rex's solo album is full of mojo and the force of character, determination, and nerve. He tracked lead vocals, rhythm guitars, and bass, working with his primary collaborator and old friend Lance Harvill, a Nashville-based guitarist and songwriter, on the album's songs. "Lance was and is my main man on this. Everything we did was finely tuned, both musically and brotherly."

Drums were tracked by Christopher Williams, himself no stranger to diverse tastes, from funk music to punk. His talent has been utilized by country music star Lee Greenwood, the reconstituted BLACKFOOT and most recently, power metal legends ACCEPT. The album was produced by New Yorker-turned-Nashville-transplant Caleb Sherman, a multi-instrumentalist with work on records by LITTLE BIG TOWN and PORTER BLOCK, among others. "Caleb produced the project from a musician's standpoint," adds Brown. "Not just a typical producer's standpoint, which was something I definitely needed. Between Caleb and Lance, we were a force to be reckoned with. They really pulled out the best in me." Peter Keyes, known for his work with LYNYRD SKYNYRD, can also be heard on a few tracks. All bass tracking came from Rex himself as well.

"My motto these days is 'Shake some shit up,'" Brown declares. "I've had my ups and downs, like anybody in this business. I wanted to feel like a true artist again, where I can write and record songs without worrying about any of the bullshit. This is just something else I'm doing for fun, man. And musical freedom. Fun has to come into it or I'm not going to do it. I've had a tremendous career and now I feel like I'm twenty-five years old again. This has given me that freedom I needed."

"I've got so much more in me," he enthuses. "I'm just getting my feet wet."

Brown previously described his solo album as "a rock and roll record. It's not your standard fare or typical metal thing," he told Metal Hammer magazine. "I was always a big [LED] ZEPPELIN fan and even though it has its little fringes of it... It's a new journey that sounds like anywhere from FOGHAT to old Tom Waits. I'm a child of the '70s and I love those kind of songs."

After leaving DOWN in 2011, Rex went on play with KILL DEVIL HILL, which has released two albums so far: "Kill Devil Hill" (2012) and "Revolution Rise" (2013). Via Blabbermouth