“This is our second release marking our recent transition in sound from a more post-rock/post-grunge style group into a modern progressive metal band. We like to think that with our recipe of blood pumping guitar riffs and ambient, clean vocals that we have a sound that isn’t exclusive to the metal scene and can appeal to anyone regardless of musical taste.” – Degenerate Era
Gooood day to y’all, fellow readers! Let’s kickstart this middle of the week with an energetic atmospheric metal song by the contrasting imaginations of Degenerate Era. “Manic” will make you feel the waves of the past, present and future, riding the rollercoaster of time and life itself… Let’s get to it!
Sean McCreight (lead guitarist) and Justin Whitmer (lead singer) from Nashville, TN, created Degenerate Era after spending some time being roommates and discovering they both had a love for classic progressive rock and modern alternative music! Teaming up with their producer extraordinaire, Luke Fiadino (who tracks, mix and masters the band’s songs while also taking on bass duties), the trio are now presenting their second single up to date, and it is a banger!
“There was no intention of forming any sort of musical project until one day in January 2020 Sean had showed Justin a few demos he had put together over the course of 2019 while working as an intern at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. That same day they decided to form a band together and start adding vocals to the instrumentals Sean had brought to the table.“
Degenerate Era finds inspiration on progressive/alternative metal bands such as TesseracT, Sleep Token and Deftones! But they like to keep their vocals easily accesible for everyone so, Whitmer takes his influences from singers such as Matt Bellamy, Alex Turner, and Jeff Buckley. This generates a beautiful harmony between earth scorching metal and angelic vocal performances!
“The biggest joke in the band is that we decided to start a band when the world started ending.” – DE
The song took its name after one of Sean’s former roommates had some sort of manic episode at the start of the lockdown. “I’m usually naming our demos something tongue-in-cheek until we decide on an official title.” – Sean McCreight
When developing the song, Sean decided to play into the title “Manic” and purposefully tried to create polar opposite sections of music, jumping around from a heavy, energetic riff to something more soft and ambient with layered clean guitars and angelic harmonies.
“Lyrically, the song is about how time (past, present, and future) can all of a sudden blend together with the second verse being a call out to snap yourself out of that loop.” – Sean McCreight
For those who have never heard Degenerate Era before, they like to think of themselves being a metal band that can appeal to everyone, this includes fans of indie rock or Top 40 pop.
“Instrumentally, the music is reminiscent of modern progressive metal and rock bands, but the intent with the vocals is to draw everyone in. Justin Whitmer, our lead singer, takes inspiration from vocalists like Matt Bellamy, Alex Turner, Thom Yorke, and Jeff Buckley, so we believe the combination of his super clean vocal style with our heavy instrumentals makes us stand out as a refreshing, non-traditional metal act.” – DE
You can find Degenerate Era on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify. It also helps to stream and share her music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Hot Stuff Metal, Sickest & Dopest, and Alterindie State Of Mind,
Remember that you can always find me here Linktree MadZen for all my social media and own music.
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This coverage was created via Musosoup #Sustainablecurator