Unchanged Melodies

In an age where most people have somewhat forgotten about the concept of a rock "supergroup," yet another one has arisen -- sort of. Enter Suspect208, a band composed of the *sons* of famous rock musicians: Noah Weiland, son of the late Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots; Tye Trujillo, son of Robert Trujillo, most notably the bassist for Metallica; London Hudson, son of Saul "Slash" Hudson, departing from his father's footsteps to play drums; and the odd one out, Niko Tsangaris, who has definitely held his own on his guitar work in their debut single, "Long Awaited." The track immediately brings to mind the sound of mid-2000s supergroup Velvet Revolver, which notably features Weiland and ex-Guns N' Roses members, including Slash. Though the lyrics definitely recall the erotic energy present in many a Scott Weiland song, like STP's "Sex Type Thing" and a good portion of Velvet Revolver's debut, Noah's voice is a lot cleaner t...

It's been mere weeks since the world of music has been shaken by the loss of yet another pillar of rock music, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Now, his son Wolfgang, the bassist in modern incarnations of the band, has released his thoughts about his father's passing into his debut single, "Distance," released under the name Mammoth WVH as a tribute to the first name Eddie and his brother Alex used as a band. Lyrically, it's about what you'd expect from a tribute song -- lines about Eddie being in a better place and the struggle of coping with his loss, but still finding solace "no matter what the distance is" between them, juxtaposed in its YouTube release with old home movies and footage of live concerts together. Musically, you'd be right to observe that it doesn't sound much like any era of Van Halen -- but it doesn't really need to. If anything, forgoing the bombastic self-indulgence that the band as a whole was known for, and dr...

In the midst of what might be the tensest Election Day aftermath since 2000, legendary metal band System of a Down released their first new material in fifteen years. Although it's a valid assumption considering their history, you'd be mistaken if you thought this was a response to the state of the USA in 2020. Instead, #SOAD , entirely composed of Armenian Americans, wrote these in response to the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (or the Republic of #Artsakh ), a territory that nominally belongs to Azerbaijan but is mainly settled by Armenians and is currently being attacked by both Azerbaijan and Turkey as deep-seated ethnic tensions have flared up once again. Proceeds from the sale of this release, as well as any additional donations, will directly benefit Armenia Fund, an organization aiming to help those in Armenia and Artsakh. These songs, "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz," have shown that despite their long period of dormancy, System of...