Men Without Armies Debut EP, Plus Exclusive letter to Planetmosh

album by:
Men Without Armies
Version:
cd

Reviewed by:
Rating:
4
On 12 January 2014
Last modified:12 January 2014

Summary:

It's not surprising that this group is already bulldozing through the reverbation charts, pushing the boundaries of rock even further.

528258_698183813557055_1290593761_n (Small)A new hard hitting rock band from New York City, featuring the ‘LA Music Awards’ guitarist of the year, Brennan Dylan. This self entitled ‘Men Without Armies ‘ EP was recorded by John Burke at the Vibe Studios in Cleveland Ohio.

Men Without Armies is a group that was launched on the general public in September of 2013 and immediately began taking the music scene by storm. The band was founded by Brennan Dylan who continuously trys to push his music to the edge, developing new and exciting skills and ideas with each song.

 

This self released six track EP will be on general sale on February 14th 2014.

I’ve not heard anything done quite like this before in this way, with a combination of electronic generated music along side traditional guitars and drums, it makes for a brilliant marriage of hard rock and hi tech. ‘NYC ‘ the groups latest single was released back in November 2013, kicks off with an abstract keyboard riff Rick Wakeman could have used as part of his ‘Solo’ track. Then comes one of the heaviest guitar riffs ever, with a positively manic drum/bass guitar foundation beat to accompany Brennan’s unique style of delivery. This single song should please everyone from the heavy metal fan to the multiple genre rock devotee.  The ‘Gift ‘, is a dark sounding, with an almost satanic feel to it is punctuated with guitar riffs from the gods! It’s not surprising that this group is already bulldozing through the reverbnation charts, pushing the boundaries of rock even further.

She Wears Plastic ‘ again is a truly heavy metal ass kicking anthem. Such full on muscle drumming by Roger Winter that would break some guys, he pounds away like a genie of the sticks, meanwhile massively heavy bass riffs are worked by Bill Spencer who you can appreciate is also working like a incensed raging banshee supporting Brennan Dylan’s magical fingers and vocals. I can’t wait to get a chance to see these guys play a live set! 

‘Devil’s Bride ‘, is just a lesson in how to make a guitar sing. I,m saying nothing about this track, you’ll just have to wait to buy the EP. That just leaves us with ‘Metal Rain ‘ and ‘Bitter Little Pill ‘. Both are great tracks and will have you blowing a gasket down in the mosh pit, absolutely mega heavy rock songs with furious vocals will pound their way out of your music system leaving you feeling exhilarated and enraptured beyond belief.                 

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In a letter Exclusive to Planetmosh Men Without Armies very own Brennan Dylan Writes…

“I’ve been writing music since I was 10 so have a lot of experience making mistakes. And I keep making mistakes because I always push the envelope whether I’m writing, practicing or performing. Without mistakes we’d probably still be trying to figure out that thing called fire and without learning from the mistakes we’d no doubt be ruled by cockroaches.

The sax was my first weapon of choice. It taught me to play single note melodies so at 14 when I picked up a guitar it was like picking up a machine gun. I was no maestro by any stretch of the imagination but I was playing AC/DC solos in a couple of weeks. The sax smothered to death in a pile of dust under my bed as I studied rock, metal and classical guitar. All through high school I performed improv rock, blues and jazz guitar with local and touring acts at a local club. That was a very important time in my life because it was at that club where I learned how to go with the flow, to improv and be very comfortable on stage.

After high school I studied Performance Guitar at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I studied for 5 semesters and didn’t graduate because I had zero interest in learning math, studying art history, English literature or anything else that wasn’t directly related to helping me become a better guitar player and writer.

My main focus since I was 14 has been metal, rock and neoclassical. Artists like Van Halen, Malmsteen, The Scorpions, AC/DC, Ozzy Osborne, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Pantera, Zakk Wylde as well as most of the 80’s metal bands are my main influences. But I’ve also studied The Ramones, Dick Dale, Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Paganini, Back, Mozart, Deadmau5 and many others. However, after getting fed up with having to rely on unreliable band mates I performed/recorded as a solo artist fusing rock, metal and neoclassical guitar to electronic music. I had great success playing shows and getting press as a solo artist but really didn’t click with labels. At my first Whisky A Go-Go show an A&R man come up to me 3-4 times ranting about my talent but said he didn’t know how to market me. What he was really saying to me was he didn’t see my market and my brand was not well defined which I understand now. I got really tired of being marginalized, so in 2013  zeroed in on METAL!!! and formed 3 piece metal band Men Without Armies. We kicked around NYC a bit before hitting the studio to record a six song self-titled EP.

I formed Men Without Armies because I realized that I was going down the wrong road. At every show I played as a solo artist, except one, the crowd went nuts. I knew people wanted to see a wild man with a guitar but my packaging was just wrong. It was like I had mislabeled myself or I had no label at all but once I was defined and direct, things made a 180 almost immediately. I have radio stations calling me, asking to play Men Without Armies plus I have much more happening or in play business wise.

Men Without Armies is a metal band plain and simple. I play guitar, write all the compositions and co-produce while Dude Diablo writes the lyrics. I also create the electronic music for the recordings. Roger Winter is the drummer and Bill Davis plays bass and sings. What you hear from Men Without Armies recorded is what you will hear and see live. We recorded 6 songs in 8 days a Vibe Studios Ohio and recently shot a video for The Devil’s Bride in Cleveland”.

Brennan Dylan
Jan 11/2014

 

Band members

Brennan Dylan – Guitar/Compositions
Bill Spencer – Bass/Vocals
Roger Winter – Drums

Track List

NYC

Gift

She Wears Plastic

Devil’s Bride

Metal Rain

Bitter Little Pill

M.W.A. Contact Info.

https://www.facebook.com/menwithoutarmies?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/MenWithoutArmys

@MenWithoutArmys

It's not surprising that this group is already bulldozing through the reverbation charts, pushing the boundaries of rock even further.

About Dave Bradbery

Dave Bradbery. A writer/Interviewer & contributor to Planetmosh.comMy favorite motto is:-"You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need!" ( Rolling Stones,1969 ) very true words.