The Second Coming of Heavy Chapter Two - Supervoid/Red Desert

There's a new Steel Panther album out, and if you've hung with me over the years you know how much I love those guys. The fact that I am reviewing something else at the moment should tell you exactly how good this new release from Ripple Music really is.

Ripple has a good thing going with the “Second Coming of Heavy” series of splits. This is the second release in the series and as with the first, the bands are perfectly matched. Both of these bands can bring the tastefully raging rock, as well as dial it back a bit and hit all the sweet spots with the slower stuff. This release has been in near constant rotation since I received my review copy.

Supervoid light this roman candle with a pedal to the metal blast of goodness called “Olympus”. Vocalist Brian (no last name given on the Facebook page) has one of those voices that just suits what this band does, and his performance throughout their three songs is on point. Bonus points for the band being from Pittsburgh and thus (hopefully) Steelers fans. This opening track manages to feel fully propelled throughout, even though it goes through some quieter passages. The second track is “Wayfarer” which is an absolute killer of a track. The same intensity is there even though this is a slower track with a very cool Middle Eastern sounding phrase that winds its way here and there from start to finish. They finish off their side of the split with “The Gallows”, at a tempo in between the other two tracks and with an opening section that definitely lives up to being on a release dedicated to heaviness. I have to admit that I have not heard this band before and I am very impressed. The intensity and heaviness that they bring, along with the ability to pull back a bit and still be intense, has me definitely looking for more releases by Supervoid.

Red Desert do their own thing with four tracks, and given that I am, you know, Odin, how would I not lose my mind over their leadoff track, “Frost Giant”. It's a tasty number that showcases their own kind of heaviness and has one of those riffs that you can nod your head to, always a good thing in my book. These guys have a little more of a “stoner rock” feel, and their second track “Hypnotized”, really puts that right up front. I really dig the lyrics to this one, too. Next up is “Revolver”, a little slower and featuring a mesmerizing guitar pattern that turns fuzzed out and heavy soon enough. This is another well done track that shows that this is a band that knows how to write a song. All too soon “Nightstalker” comes roaring along to wrap things up. I can totally imagine Carl Kolchak listening to this as he cruised around finding all the weird creatures and happenings on the 70's TV show of the same name.Although that's probably not what the song is about.

Big props to Ripple Music for putting out this gem. As of this writing it is almost sold out in all color variants so hop on over to their website and grab a copy while you still can. Can't wait to see what heaviness they have to drop on us when Chapter Three comes out.

- ODIN