Into The Storm - Where The Merfalo Roam

Tracklist:-

1. Truck Van Trailer

2. Ghostmaker

3. Seduced And Disappointed

4. I Gotta Get The Bees Outta My Teeth

5. Wellwisher

6. Maturin

7. Maths

8. Fell Of A Horse

9. Jobbernaught

10. Where The Merfalo Roam

Apologies for the radio silence over the last week. My job is taking it out of me and now I've got flu or something. I can't think of a better way to stop it taking hold than taking time to check out Into The Storm, who as it turns covered CKY's 96 Quite Bitter Beings prior to the release of their second album in November. I don't know a great deal about the band, although they released their first full-length in 2010, following it up with two EPs in 2011 and 2013 respectively. "Where The Merfalo Roam" was released via Alive And Breathing Records. 

Into The Storm plays heavy, noisy metal tinged with sludge, which definitely takes more from the Savannah scene than it does from Seattle. Truck Van Trailer is pretty high octane and reverb on the vocals help them to match the soundstage created by the guitars and drums. Kinda like Crowbar being forced to mate with Torche. The wicked melody created by the lead guitar provide plenty of atmosphere on Ghostmaker that fights through it’s mid-paced drawl, before Into The Storm hits with off-kilter riffs that will curb stomp you harder than a chav from Birmingham that’s into beatdown! Things get more depraved and experimental with the slow burning Seduced and Disappointed. They pick up the pace with I Gotta Get The Bees Outta My Teeth, which is basically pile-driving rock with added sledgehammers. They pull out a huge number midway through the album with the six+ minute Wellwisher. It’s awesome when a band writes a longer song and then just rages through it, instead of getting too proggy or flowery. There’s no need for gimmicks here. Alexis Tahiri’s trumpet playing on Maturin adds a whole new layer to Into The Storm’s sound and seems to lift it to another place. Semi-improv intros are the best and it gives way to more heaviness. It’s this song where the screams also take on a new character all of their own, backed up by more monumental riffs and cymbal crashes. This half of the record has a more definite hardcore approach as Maths follows in the same footsteps as Maturin did, despite it’s more obvious introspective sections. Fell Off A Horse is more of a grinding frenzy at a little over a minute, while the bizarrely titled Jobbernaught is a…juggernaught (sorry). They end with the title-track and again it’s a big-un. A precise mix of everything that’s made this album great, with added violin from both Kim Pack and Sarah Pendleton. Brant, James, Matthew and Oliver have made more noise than a quartet really ought to and with it they’ve made an album worth strapping yourself in for. 

Stream "Where The Merfalo Roam" and grab it digitally or on cd/vinyl from Into The Storm's bandcamp page below:-

Into The Storm Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rideintothestorm
Alive And Breathing Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/aliveandbreathingrecords