Lucas Stone-Deathbed EP. A wicked mix of dark, melodic post hardcore/metal.

 

Lucas Stone-Deathbed EP. A wicked mix of dark, melodic post-hardcore/metal.

This one was a pleasant surprise to come across.
Lucas Stone has been making solid and varied music for ages, and this release has some of his best work is contained here in his solo guise.

Here's the presser to chomp on:

Currently holding down dual roles as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for Gold Coast rockers HAMMERS and drum duties for blues funk trio Hot Cobra, Stone's work as a solo artist brings a venomous and dexterous twist to his creative repertoire, lined with sharp post metal and blackened alternative rock. And today, Stone combines 35 years spent writing and creating music into a brand new solo and completely independent EP: DEATHBED.

Raw, caustic and welding Stone's love for authentic emotion within heavy music with malevolent riff violence, DEATHBED is simultaneously cohesive and yet stylistically indefinable; a true representation of who Stone is, his passion for the heavy realms, and what he has journeyed through to reach this point in his career.

“I do this for me. Which is kinda silly, I guess," says Stone. "Clearly, to my career’s detriment, I’m approaching 50 and I’m only just now starting to understand that I do have an audience and, sometimes, strategic placement of elements of your artform makes it easier to execute said artform. On the other hand, as far as my integrity goes, every single note and word I’ve penned is all of me. I’ve bent for no one. Is that a good thing? Probably not. But honestly, in my heart of hearts, I wouldn’t change a fuck’n thing. I’ve broken & rebuilt myself multiple times for this shit and it’s been worth every fall…”

DEATHBED also boasts the addition of some of Stone's talented friends and stalwarts of the Australian heavy music scene, including: Colin Jeffs (Aversions Crown), Leigh Dowling (HAMMERS), Nathan Wyner (A Secret Death), Dario Lagana (HAMMERS, HELM), Mick Jeffrey (Aversions Crown), Simon Reys (Scalene, Born of a Jackal), Sam Vallen (Caligula's Horse), and Jason Brown (Sunk Loto).
So the five tracks are an epic ride-Carry the Black is a concrete banger that hits it hard in many quarters be it the mix of melodic vocals at war with dark, almost death metal screams. But at the same time, it has a borderline grunge meets stadium rock vibe; yes, a decent accomplishment. Awesome technique across the release, but this is a classic opener, with extra trimmings given the guest vocals and the magnificent songwriting so apparent on this. One thing about this release, every track is so hard to pin down to a single genre, that works for the listener every time. Cross My Heart is pure MOR in a solid way aka adult rock/Triple M type rock and hence needs to get some airplay, mature vocals and soaring riffs and is a total journey of a track. 

Deathbed (A-OK) is much more indie, I really dug the mix of Powderfinger meets almost Britpop indie rock (again a totally unexpected and rather pleasant soundclash when the aggro vocals kick in)-this song like the previous has the rock miles on it, with some tasty Nu-Metal vibes also. 3 tracks in and it's staggering how confident the EP is, but Lucas knows the score.
Old Horse, New Town is also wild, mixing up the heavy rock and brilliant harmonic vocals with some acidic and pile-driving riffs and real almost Deathcore vocals. Sounds like a car crash, but it's the opposite.
Then closing out the EP is an amazing track as crazed as the opener and my fave track by a mile, the epic and sludgy metal beast that is Portent which reminds me of the best of early Polaris and even Alice in Chains. And while I dug the whole EP hugely, I'd love a whole album of this immense, distorted soundscape-stadium melodic metalcore. But one must say what a journey this EP is and worth your time and Lucas is certainly a wizard, but you knew that already.

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