After years of touring and performing around the world with various bands, vocalist Jerry Roush finally has a band to call his own. The former frontman for Sky Eats Airplane and Of Mice & Men has joined forces with 8-string guitarist Joshua Travis [The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza], bassist Travis Sykes and drummer Chad Hasty to create Glass Cloud.

The Hampton, VA-based band is currently in San Diego, CA recording their debut full-length album at Lambesis Studios, with Joshua Travis also serving as producer. Glass Cloud will release the full-length album in late Spring/early Summer 2012 through Equal Vision Records.

Musically, Glass Cloud offers a sense of controlled chaos fueled by Roush’s deep, ferocious growls and distinct, gritty cleans. Travis’ phenomenal guitarwork and ability to constantly surprise listeners stands out as he displays the perfect balance between energetic, driving intricacies and calmer progressions that carry a dark, eerie tone. Sykes and Hasty, graduates of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, rule the rhythm section contributing unique cadences and swinging, jazzy grooves interlaced with softer symphonic touches. Glass Cloud shines as the members deliver some of their heaviest and most technical compositions to date.

Excitement and enthusiasm simply radiates out of the band as they discuss working together in the studio and developing a sound that is all their own. “The collective musicianship and talent level in this band is unbelievable,” explains Travis. “…and to top it off, the guys are all down-to-earth people too. Working on this record has been a lot of fun. We are trying to introduce something organic and ambient into heavy music. Not the typical breakdown heavy, but darker chords upon layers and layers.”

Roush also boasts unabashedly about the remarkable caliber of musical proficiency within the band, and specifically about the creative connection between himself and Travis stating, “From the moment he became involved in this band, he was sending me fully finished tracks left and right, songs that were blowing my mind. Musically, Josh is a beast…the dude is a musical machine. We meshed so well, right from the start, making tracks that had no limits to them. I couldn’t have asked for a better and more prolific guitarist to accompany me in this new musical endeavor. And with Josh being the producer of the debut Glass Cloud record, we know that we are making the exact album that we want to make.”

“We have been working intensely in the studio, but it will definitely pay off when we introduce something new and fresh to the scene,” Travis concludes. “I don’t think I could be more excited about a project.” Glass Cloud will spend 2012 on the road supporting their forthcoming album, with tour dates to be announced soon.

ERRA is a five piece progressive metalcore band hailing from Birmingham, Alabama that formed in 2009. Their namesake comes from Akkadian mythology and represents mayhem (something that comes to mind when giving them a listen). The band, consisting of Garrison Lee, Jesse Cash, Alan Rigdon, Sean Price and Alex Ballew, solidified their technical sound after relentlessly practicing and writing. They take their influences from well respected groups like Misery Signals, Born of Osiris, As I Lay Dying and Saosin, and thrive on being creative and showcasing their talent through their intense live performances. Erra takes great pleasure in offering their refreshing sound in a sometimes stale and over-saturated market. It’s not about fashion or status; it’s about using raw talent and energy to create genuine songs that will give hope to the listener.

Chris Barretto – Vocals
Browne – Guitars
Olly Steele – Guitars
Adam Swan – Bass
Mike Malyan – Drums

Transcontinental metallers MONUMENTS have come a long way since starting as a side project of John Browne (guitars; Fellsilent) and Josh Travis (guitars; The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza). From a surprise appearance on BBC Radio 1 to debut full-length, “Gnosis“”, the group immediately found a fanatic audience. Praised for their brainy yet song-oriented approach to heavy music, MONUMENTS bridged the progressive metal gap like few before. On one side they challenged. “Gnosis“” was full of mind-bending, betcha-can’t-play-this-type passages. On the other side, fans deeply connected to hook- laden songs like “97% Static” and “Empty Vessels”.

Fast forward two productive years later and MONUMENTS – now with Chris Barretto (ex-Periphery, Ever Forthright) on vocals – have grown tremendously. While they’re still way into instrumental gymnastics and impressing fans with their musical prowess, they’ve really honed in on writing huge, impossibly memorable songs for new album, “The Amanuensis”. Like bigger, badder, and even more epic-than- before type stuff. If “97% Static” and “Empty Vessels” stuck to the brain, new songs like “I, Creator”, “The Alchemist”, and “Origin of Escape” hit the head, body, and mind hard. “I really like the chorus of ‘The Alchemist’,” guitarist John Browne smiles. “It’s really simplistic, but I think that part will sound big and open when we play it live. I also dig the ending of ‘I, The Destroyer’. I can’t really focus on one part or song. All of the songs I’m happy with how they all turned out.”

“The Amanuensis” is a complete experience, actually. Even Browne’s mom is impressed: “I know my mum will blast this out of her car like she did with ‘Gnosis’. She loves groove.”

If one thing’s certain about MONUMENTS and Browne in 2014 they’re keen to move away from needless classification with “The Amanuensis”. They’re specifically referring to their tenuous association with the djent movement. “Music is music,” Browne says. “It has the same 12 notes as any other music. The only difference is the way it’s expressed, so we use pretty silly words to try and explain the sound. The word ‘djent’ makes no sense whatsoever to describe a genre. The tone that it references isn’t really utilized by many bands that are classed as it. I feel progressive metal is a much better reference to our music, with a huge dose of groove.”

Armed with a handful of demo tracks and an EP release expected in Spring 2012, Reflections are a band that refuse to comment on their genre, and rightly so. Included in this deathcore series because they incorporate elements of the musical style (breakdowns included), they are harnessing a sound that, although fitting into the djent bracket too, is not constrained by the sum of its parts. This is promiscuous music that fucks precision into groove into brutality; wielding an A-HA track and a Katy Perry cover in their backcatalogue also shows how willing Reflections are to take conventionality up the chuffer.

However, where this five-piece are strongest is during music of their own creation. So far I’ve managed to eke out of the band the locations of 3 full-length tracks (I’ll link where possible), which, even as demoes, demonstrate the potential of this furious young troupe. Reflections have a sound that is pitched right on the edge of sanity; there is so much technical prowess here, especially during the spidery guitar-work that is so elaborate and dissonant. An Artifact refuses to clamp down, with its spindly solo opener and frenzied underlying chug that soon breaks down into the verse, whilst Advance Upon Me Brethren kicks into a bouncy groove, and then smashes you at freight train speed during the chorus. For all of the shitmunchers who wait with baited breath for the breakdown, there are those too, but framed by some really well executed music that doesn’t just leave you begging for the bass drop.

Reflections earn their stripes, though, not just because their musical skills are far beyond proficiency, but as willing participants in esotericism; this is exploratory music that takes cues from several areas of metal. It’s thought-out, provocative and technical whilst also being explosive and evocative and absent of any pretension. What’s more, they don’t participate in the race to be faster and heavier than everyone else (which gives deathcore its generic ooze), but instead are a far more convincing offering with progressive and groove elements thrown into the mix.

The next test for Reflections will be releasing a record that gives credit to their talent in being a cohesive and dangerous force. So far they’ve proved innovation in a genre that has already been condemned to the grave by some critics, and are pushing the boundaries in all sorts of degenerate ways. Reflections will find their strengths (and their admirers) by remaining as willing outcasts.