Album Reviews

The band comprised of several hard hitting late 90’s early 2000’s bands known as Audiotopsy has released the first taste of what we can expect from their forthcoming album entitled ‘Natural Causes’. The album will be released via Napalm Records on August 28th. The members of the band are guitarist Greg Tribbet formerly of Mudvayne and Hellyeah, ex-Skrape vocalist Billy Keeton, Matt McDonough former drummer of Mudvayne and bassist Perry Stern. The album was self-produced by the band at The Porch Studio in Orlando. The band is planning an extensive debut tour which should coincide with the album release. Audiotopsy are now releasing their second full-length release, ‘The Real Now’, on November 2, 2018 via Megaforce Records. Self-produced with vocal production and mixing completed by Dave Fortman (Evanescence, Slipknot, Mudvayne). According to the band, ‘The Real Now’ explores the journey of life. Guitarist Greg Tribbett states, “This album deals with life – from addiction to depression to death. Life is a journey of unforeseen experiences.”

‘The Real Now’ is available for pre-order now via Amazon, and will be available via more digital retailers very soon.

‘The Real Now’ kicks things off with the heavy yet melodic track “War”. If you recall the way in which Billy sang with his previous band Skrape his vocals here are somewhat similar. You get these harsh screams followed by a melodic clean singing. It’s an amazing mixture of both. The guitar licks laid down by Greg are thick, heavy and exactly what we have been wanting from this band. After the first track this album is already super promising. The very next track “Hologram” chimes in immediately showing off Matt’s incredible drumming skills. His heavy pounding behind the kit is the heartbeat of this track and it goes from a thundering stampede of drumming to a more subtle beat during the chorus. The song also has this incredible chorus that I just can’t get out of my head after hearing it for the first time. The portion of the chorus starts out with Billy’s clean vocal style “Hologram… mirror mirror on the WALL” and when he gets to “Wall” he just lets out this gut wrenching scream that is just bone chilling. You can’t really say enough about Greg’s guitar tone, and Billy on rhythm guitar  and how they perfectly fit those riffs into the song. On the track “Hurt Down” the band slows things down a bit. The song showcases an amazing vocal harmony. Near the two minute mark the vocals become a little more harsh while still including a harmony. “Hurt Down” is what we would consider a ballad for Audiotopsy, it still has some heavier qualities but it does mellow out in comparison to the other tracks on the record. It’s still a good song and it changes the tempo of the record and keeps the album from being repetitive with heaviness. The album ends with the track “A Death Benefit”. The song has a heavy groove and Billy’s vocals anchor the song alongside the chugging riffs Greg lays down. This is probably one of the most complex songs on the album and it incorporates a lot of different styles. Billy has various vocal tones and on this track we hear each and every one of those and it works.

‘The Real Now’ is a huge step forward for Audiotopsy. I enjoyed the bands debut album ‘Natural Causes’ but felt like it was missing something. I think the band has now gelled and probably spent more time composing songs this time around and it shows. The album from open to close keeps you on your toes with the way the band can take their sound in various directions and it keeps you eager to hear the next track. No matter if you are a fan of their previous bands this is a killer record, that carries a new refreshing sound and pushes the limits of creativity.