Evil Engine-Nullius In Verba (EP-2016)

Post #352

Evil Engine are a Chicago-based, female-fronted punk rock band on the rise. Having played shows from Chicago to New York and beyond this summer of 2017, you might have already seen them live and seen what they can do. Nullius In Verba, their debut EP, is 5 tracks (6 counting the shout-out to their Kickstarter supporters, bonus track) of pure punk energy fused with a tinge of metal.

From the opening number, Ugly Public, you feel what this band is about. They're intense, yet not hardcore. Accessible, yet not 'pop-punk'. Truly a throwback to when the intensity of punk was first infused with melodic rock. The lyrics are a cannon-spray of commentary on the modern socio-political landscape.

The Resistance is more aggressive, and every bit as fast as Ugly Public. The lyrics are a more-straight-forward 'fight the system' anthem. It's a call to arms against the establishment.

Father may be the best example of Evil Engine's ability to fuse metal in their sound as the clean guitar intro demonstrates their ability to focus on melody. The song still picks up and give you the aggression you'd expect at this point, but the melody is never far from the song structure, and Kryssie's voice gives a perfect delivery with a smooth and bluesy tone and just the right amount of aggression.

Radio Coup D'tat. While it criticizes the music industry's biases in terms of radio air play, it may also be the band's most radio-friendly number... It reminds me of Green Day in some respects, with a major-key tonality and fun-times vibe. It also defends the underground music scene and the mentality of those who support, contribute, or attend shows in the underground scene.

Egression is the last true song on the EP, and it is a worthy closer. It opens with a slow and melodic bass guitar, but soon transitions to perhaps the fastest song on the record! Lyrically the song seems a cautionary tale about society slipping into a dystopia. Socially conscientious, and full of fist-pumping emotion, this song easily merits multiple plays on your listening device.

Brrrraaaap is sort of a bonus track, as it is essentially just a list of thank-you's to the people that supported the highest tier of their kisckstarter campaign. Still, it is a track where... hearing is believing!

Check out the official Evil Engine website,
Follow them on Facebook
Watch their Youtube Channel and...
Don't forget to check out Nullius In Verba on iTunes!

2016 Independent Band of the Year Reader's Poll

Post #342

It is time once again for the Independent Band of the Year poll here at HappyHeadbanger.com! From now through November 15th the poll is open for voting. This year we have a field of bands that in addition to the music scene in Chicago and the surrounding ares, also reaches out to some countries in Europe! I think you'll enjoy all of these bands if you take a couple minutes to listen to a song from each of them. Vote for your favorite! Vote for a couple favorites! Share with your friends and on your favorite social media platform. At the end of the polling period, only 1 will become HappyHeadbanger's next Independent Band of the Year...

-DISSONA (Chicago IL, Progressive Metal)
This band is a progressive metal band from Chicago who put their own spin on the tones and song structures that you can have in metal. Parts of their songs sound like some elements of thrash, or ambient progressive rock, or hardcore, or symphonic metal, but then they go beyond and deliver something completely new.

Check out the song 'Another Sky'

-OCCULT DECEIVER (Indianapolis, IN, Blackened-Death Metal/Thrash Metal)
This Indiana band is perhaps the most extreme metal band I've featured yet. Their vocal style ranges from the true guttural growls of death metal to the shrieking screams of black metal. If death metal is your preference, you need look no further. Check out Occult Deceiver and prepare for some serious extreme metal!

Check out the song 'Shattered Soul'

-ARES (Indianapolis, IN, Metalcore/Hardcore)
This band is a metalcore band in a style similar to bands like Fit For a King, or The Devil Wears Prada. Ares keep the vocal ratio heavily in favor of the hardcore screams, but melodic vocals are interspersed here and there.

Check out the title-track from their new CD, 'Fall of the King'

-EVIL ENGINE (Chicago, IL, Punk Rock)
This band delivers Punk Rock music akin to Bad Religion, with the twist of a female vocalist. They hit on all cylinders and fuse raw emotion with riffs and melody.

Check out their song 'Father'

-PROUDEST ANGEL (Chicago, IL, Metal/Hard Rock)
This band hits you with a raw and heavy tone, rocking out riffs that are right between a heavy punk rock and groove metal. Some melodic guitar phrases bring texture to a couple songs, and a deep vocal melody round out their formula.

-Check out their song 'Civilly Feral'

-WARG (Zaragoza, Spain, Epic Thrash Metal)
This band from Spain call their style 'Epic Thrash Metal', and true there are thrash riffs at the base of each song's foundation, but they incorporate elements of hardcore, folk, symphonic and operatic metal into different songs. Hearing is believing, so click the link below to hear for yourself

Check out the song 'Ancient Times'

-SUFFER NO FOOLS (Ealing, London, UK, Metalcore)
A melodic metalcore band from the London area of the UK, Suffer No Fools mix it up with some heavy riffs, melodic phrasing, clean tones, and a scratchy vocal performance that sometimes could fit in with 'post-grunge'.

Check out the song 'Prey'


Click the box next to your favorite band(s) in the right hand column to record your vote. Share this link with more and more friends to spread the word and encourage them to vote as well!

Congrats to Kryssie from Evil Engine

Post #340

HappyHeadbanger.com would like to congratulate Kryssie, from Evil Engine, for landing a spot on CBS's Big Brother: Over The Top. First episode premiers Wednesday September 28th at 9pm central time. There will be weekly 'episodes' Wednesday evenings, however it seems that Big Brother: Over The Top is intended more as a live event, to be accessed around the clock by CBS All Access subscribers. Curious? Learn more Here.

The HappyHeadbanger connection with Kryssie goes back to 2009 when I first heard of the band DEADMANSWAKE. Kryssie sang lead vocals for this band prior to her current punk-rock band Evil Engine. Both bands have been reviewed here at Happyheadbanger.com, and I look forward to reviewing Evil Engine's debut release, 'Nullius In Verba' soon after it becomes available. DEADMANSWAKE were my 2010 Independent Band of the Year, and Evil Engine will be featured this year, polling to open early in October... stay tuned for details. DMW still holds the record for most votes received by a single band in this annual contest. Will Evil Engine fare as well this year? Time will tell.

For now, enjoy Kryssie's 'introduction' video, and root for her in this Big Brother: OTT season!

 See my previous reviews of DEADMANSWAKE

and Evil Engine.

HappyHeadbanger Fest - 2016, at Elbo Room, Chicago. Saturday, September 3rd.

Post # 333

A rock and metal music fest that will primarily feature the independent bands featured here on this blog for the past seven years... HappyHeadbanger Fest will be sure to satiate every Chicago metal-head's need for headbanging! Featuring 3 previous winners of my 'Independent Band of the Year' annual contest, plus members from other previously featured bands, and a couple bands to be featured in this year's upcoming Independent Band of the Year Reader's Poll, this fest is as much about promoting the Chicago and surrounding area's music scene as it is about that scene supporting this blog in return.

In just under 3 weeks, Scars of Armageddon, the current Band of the Year, will be performing, along with previous Bands of the Year Her Name Is Mercy and Fist To The Sky. Other bands performing include Threatening The Order, Mediums, and Proudest Angel!

6 Independent Metal and Punk Rock bands! Fully Amped and Unplugged sets on 2 stages! MC'd by the Happy Headbanger Himself! This brand new music fest will have something for everyone...

HappyHeadbanger Fest will be at Elbo Room in Chicago on September 3rd at 8pm (doors open at 7pm). Tickets are $9.00 in advance through the Elbo Room's Ticket page, or direct from them bands if you're following them. Tickets will be $10 at the door.

Follow HappyHeadbanger on Facebook, the HappyHeadbanger Fest event page, The Elbo Room, and any of the bands performing to keep updated on this one-of-a-kind, and First Ever HappyHeadbanger Fest!

(Recent Update: Due to unforseen circumstances there has been a change in this line-up. Mediums has replaced Evil Engine for HappyHeadbanger Fest 2016.)

4WITHOUT, Sinister Fate, Proudest Angel, Evil Engine. 4-30-16

Post # 328

On Saturday April 30th, at Smiler Coogan's on Chicago's northwest side, 4 local Chicago bands got together to put on a kick-ass metal show (with a hint of punk!) Presented by Rebel Radio in conjunction with the venue, the 4 band line-up easily caught my eye, since I had previously reviewed works from members of 3 of the 4 bands, and only missed seeing the 4th band previously because I was out-of-state during Dame-Nation 2012. This was an excellent opportunity to see 4 bands at once, all of which I had interest in covering...

The opening act of the evening was Evil Engine, a 4-piece punk-rock act who are busy recording their debut EP. Their line-up features 2 members from Deadmanswake, previously reviewed here at www.happyheadbanger.com and a former Independent Band of the Year from 2010!

Their set was intense; packed with fast tempos and kinetic stage-presence in every song, they got me headbanging early! At one point their bassist even jumped into the crowd and kept on playing... They played many songs from this forthcoming EP, my personal favorite being 'Father', a demo track for which they made a lyric video previously this year. Another highlight for me was their cover of the Ramones' 'Pet Sematary', inspired by the Stephen King novel and film.

Next was Proudest Angel, a band featuring 2 members from Sutured Psyche, another band I've reviewed here before.

Although they are working on new material to be released soon, they are actually a re-tooled version of the band, and had recorded a couple EP's from 2000-2002. Their set featured mostly material from those early recordings plus a couple new ones. Their best number in my opinion was 'Whole Again', also available to hear in a youtube video.

Then came the dark and demented Sinister Fate! I had seen this band once before, and was looking forward to see what they had in store. They are known for incorporating a DIY-pyrotechnic display into their live sets, and this show didn't disappoint! They had two stage-dancers/performers who added a visually impressive spark-thrower display...

Their traditional metal/thrash metal style was easy to bang your head to, and they of course closed with their anthem to their favorite curse word: 'I Love to Say Fuck!', a cover of The Murderdolls song.
(**It should be noted that vocalist Dave Bates had been running a fever of 103 earlier in the day. In addition to delivering a great performance on vocals here with Sinister Fate, he ALSO played drums for Proudest Angel in the previous set! That is some true, heavy-metal style dedication to the fans of live music. Much respect to ya Dave!)

The last band of the evening was 4Without, a female-fronted metal band with roots from the Czech Republic. As I mentioned previously, they were part of the line-up for Chicago's female-fronted-metal fest Dame-Nation, a concert series I often covered here, however this was the first time I got to see them live.

They delivered numerous tracks from their own self-produced CD, Line of Love. Their style is melodic metal, or heavy-hard rock. One highlight from their set was 'Move On'. Click the song title to see their youtube video for it!

Setlists for this night's performance from each band are as follows...

Evil Engine Setlist:
Father
Degeneration
Resistance
My God's Bigger Than Your God
Radio
Pet Sematary
Egression
Ugly Public

Proudest Angel Setlist:
Shoulda Known Better
Civilly Feral
Anathema
Ex Chrysalis
Brink
Starlight
Canto Dolor
I Like It Rough (Lady Gaga Cover)
Whole Again
We Had Fun

Sinister Fate Setlist:
Trust/Obey
Decay
Sympathy From the Devil
Hellbound
Zombie Bomb
S and M Anthem
Drop Dead Goregous
Gore Whore
Natural-Born Killer
Dragstrip Dragula
Fetish
I Love to Say Fuck!

4Without Setlist:
Line of Love
Running Away
Sweet Bite
Territory
Desire
Personal Jesus
Where I Belong
Kill Him 1st
Move On
Life