Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Meet the future of alternative rock / crossover, the hard-hitting, poignant protagonists of Philly’s SNOW VILLAIN.
The band is on the verge of issuing their latest studio effort, titled ‘EP 1‘, on April 27th, and, to simply state, it’s a game-changer. The quintet within SNOW VILLAIN – Grant Goldsworthy (vocals, guitar, keys), Alex Hilliard (bass), Anthony Pieruccini (lead guitar), Cory Paternoster (drums), and Mikaela Krall (keys, guitar, vocals) – are masterful executors of some incredible music.
This fiercely creative fivesome has crafted a recording that is best described as a successfully intriguing experiment in audio alchemy. They take the base “chemicals” of alternative rock, crossover/rap metal, and some funk, toss them into the pestle and mortar, and then add other oddities to them.
What are those oddities, you ask? Well, they include ragtime-like pianos and unusually effect-laden guitar on the “Records” cut, for one. Those augmentations work some powerful mojo too, like the incendiary angst of the Rage Against The Machine-like “Torches“.
Other times, SNOW VILLAIN serves up some hypnotically alluring fuzz-ish psyche rock on “I Don’t Know“, or they one-eighty into some hazy, very radio-friendly pop ala “Little Dogs“.
The diversity and fearless willingness to explore myriad musical styles and genres here work with impressive, strong results on all the content contained upon ‘EP 1‘. Things flow with inviting fluidity despite the constantly evolving sounds and intensities of the songs.
If you are an open-minded connoisseur of multi-faceted, outside-the norm sonic feasts then warm up to SNOW VILLIAN and ‘EP 1‘ as soon as you can.
