So when a release gets sold as “alt country musician goes heavy metal”… well, you have to admit that sounds a bit suspicious. Daniel Markham is a name I have heard, but never really listened to as I don’t get into a whole lot of the alt country scene. But when Velvet Blue Music helps promotes a release of any kind, I tend to give it a shot. VBM knows their music. The first track jumps out of the gate with a fuzzed out distorted guitar sound that really digs into the “power pop influences” that Markham mentions in the promo materials. Yeah, that is a pretty good sign that the alt country really is gone on this release. Markham kind of moves through everything from heavy fuzzed-out power pop to sludgy doom-inspired metal. Its kind of a bit of a unique take on metal, which to me is a welcome new direction in the ancient art of head banging. This is probably accented by the fact that vocally, Markham still fits in well with indie rock / VBM type bands. I’m kind of digging it, even if I can’t really find the best way to describe it. There are also songs like the title track where he just rocks out with little metal influence, so the hard rock label also fits as well. overall, Markham proves that he really does have a metal heart beating under all of the alt country music he has been playing all this time.
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