I’ll be completely honest; I didn’t know that party metal was a genre until just a few minutes after listening to this album. Villain is the latest release by Attila, containing 10 songs with some pretty insane instrumentals from guitarist Chris Linck, drummer Bryan Mcclure, and bassist Kalan Bleh, as well as great vocal work from Chris ‘Fronz’ Fronzak.
The album starts with ‘Perdition’, which has a fucking amazing intro and awesome drumming from Bryan Mcclure, and it definitely sets the tone for the rest of the album. After this song we have the album’s namesake ‘Villain’, which features some more insane guitar work and drumming. Seriously, how do these guys not vaporize their fingers/not have their wrists fall off? I loved the mix of vocals and the whole song makes me want to break my deadlifting record, especially during the fantastic solo.
We have ‘Blackout’ where the party metal aspect of this band definitely comes through. The song itself is more of a mix of metal with what I think is either techno or dubstep–correct me if I’m wrong– and the best way I can describe the lyrics is that it’s seem to be about your typical college party. There’s a great chorus in it and I love the bass. Great work!
‘New Addiction’ is next on the album, and this one is somewhat of a pick up song in that the whole thing is about trying to get girls/a girl. There’s a good instrumental in it with a good solo portion and the vocals are pretty clear and easy to understand.
Next up is ‘Still About It’. Again, great vocal work and the drums deserve the spotlight in this one, along with the guitar and bass. Through in the next song ‘Toxic’ the bassist deserves a hell lot of recognition for his part, and I liked the chorus on this one.
‘It is What It is’ is a super aggressive break up song with the namesake tagline in the chorus, one that I absolutely love, and the instrumental is super good. Overall I’d recommend this one to someone going through a break up, or just generally going through some shit, and it’s best listened to while smashing shit or punching a few holes in the wall.
After this one, we have a song that I loved enough to put it on my playlist, ‘Subhuman’. It features a rap portion that has clean vocals in it and a fantastic chorus. I fucking loved the guitar and that instrumental portion around 1:50 in the song. I’ve listened to it twice since writing this, actually. Yes. That good.
‘Manipulate’ is our second to last song and, though I don’t have much to say about it, I loved the lyrics and the guitar work. It definitely captures the whole feeling and idea of having a manipulative person in your life that you hate.
We come to the conclusion ‘Bad Habits’, which is my next favorite song on the album. It’s super adrenaline inducing and all the instruments sound awesome together, with pretty fantastic vocal work, especially in the–you guessed it– the chorus.
There’s no doubt to the incredible skill everyone in this band has, and though most of the songs weren’t really my cup of tea, this album is super strong and definitely worth looking into. It can be found on digital formats such as Spotify and Google Play. Check it out!
PHOTO CREDIT: Album art ©Attila and Original Artist