In case you’re not familiar with the concept of “Freebie of the Week”, here’s a brief explanation… Each week I go on a little hunt through the vast wastelands of the Internet in search of FREE and LEGAL downloads. So, all of the downloads featured here will be obtainable through trustworthy means… and they’ll be guilt-free. For example, I will only ever feature music available from official band websites, profiles (such as MySpace, Reverbnation or Facebook) and Last.fm (or equivalent).
I’ve featured A Total Wall on this site a few times in the past and so it gives me great pleasure to be able to feature them once again. Especially since they like to give their music away FOR FREE!
The band play technical death metal/djent/ math metal – hell, I’m not sure how to describe them… but, whatever they do, they do it well! Click here to download their new single, “Sentence”. You can also download a bunch of other tracks from here
Info:
A Total Wall was born in March 2009. It took a few months to consolidate their style before starting to work on their debut EP, True Fear, which came out in October 2010. This involved the use of 7-string guitars, some polyrhythmic patterns and the introduction of 8-string guitars in a few songs. On their second work, Incide, they switched to the heavier 8-string sound entirely, adding complexity to song structures and relying much more on polyrhythms.
Line-Up:
Davide Bertolini (drums)
Umberto Chiroli (guitars)
Daniele Belotti (vocals)
Links:
atotalwall.com
facebook.com/atotalwall
twitter.com/atotalwall
It’s Sunday… I have a cup of tea… this can only mean one thing… it’s time for…
*drum roll*
This week’s freebie comes courtesy of the awesome Solace Of Requiem! This is a band that plays astoundingly good Technical Blackened Death Metal… and some of it is available for FREE!!! The freebies include tracks from each album and they are available via the links below, or by heading over to SOR’s Official Website.
- Download “Rivers” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
- Download “Arctic Reflections” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
- Download “Those Born to Suffer” here (from “The Great Awakening”)
- Download “Language of the Gods” (featuring Bret Hoffman) here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
- Download “Red Sea” here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
- Download “Beyond Grace” (new version) here (from “Utopia Reborn”)
- Download “Beyond Grace” (old version) here (from “Solace of Requiem”)
- Download “Deceiver” here (from “Solace of Requiem”)
Like what you hear? Do yourself a favour and BUY THE ALBUMS! Grab them from Solace Of Requiem’s Official Site!
Band Info:
Solace of Requiem has teamed up with producer Andy Classen to usher in a new era of Death Metal. While others in the genre have strived to become more technical on their instruments, SOR has strived to become more technical with their song writing. There is no doubt that musicians should be good on their instruments but the technical aspects of music should not be limited to the instrumentation alone.
Solace of Requiem has created a sound that is not only instrumentally technical but is also technical in structure. The main focus for SOR is to properly orchestrate the emotions between lyrics and music, while maintaining a high level of technicality in instrumentation and composition. The band has blended together Death Metal, Black Metal, Doom, Thrash, Jazz, Rock and many other forms of music to create an extremely diverse sound that makes SOR unique.
The band has a number of tour dates coming up – Check their site for details!
Sadly there’s no UK dates… there’s gotta be a UK promoter out there just itching to put these guys on a show! C’mon! Make it so!
Line-Up:
Jeff Sumrell (Bass & Vocals)
Dave Tedesco (Drums)
Chris Armijo (Guitars)
George Arguello (Guitars)
Video:
I know I didn’t include a video in last week’s Freebie of the Week… but I thought I would this time… plus, I really like this track:
Solace of Requiem – “Red Sea” from their second album “Utopia Reborn” 2006 (featuring Bret Hoffmann from Malevolent Creation).
Links:
solreq.com
facebook.com/solaceofrequiem
reverbnation.com/solaceofrequiem
youtube.com/solreq
last.fm/music/Solace+Of+Requiem
Loucifer Speaks Interview with Jeff Sumrell
Loucifer Speaks Review of “The Great Awakening”
If you are in a band and would like to have your stuff featured in Freebie of the Week, please get in touch.
Occasionally I like to ask the people of Twitter for recommendations on which bands I should feature here on Loucifer Speaks. A lot of the time, bands recommend themselves (which is absolutely fine – if you’re not going to sing your own praises, then you really can’t expect anyone else to… Be proud of what you do 
)… anyway, this is what happened in this instance. I sent out a little Tweet asking for bands, and A Total Wall responded. It’s a simple system – it works! 
“True Fear” is available to download from the band’s website (link provided at the end, kids!) for FREE… and we all like a freebie, right? Now, I have to come clean… I know pretty much nothing about this band, so I’m not going to give you their life story. Instead of doing lots of research (which is because I can be a bit lazy at times!), I tackled this EP completely blind, and I think that this paid off. I had no preconceived ideas on what to expect, so the EP retained its ‘freshness’. Does that make any sense? I hope so…
On “True Fear” A Total Wall really deliver the goods. Their brand of technical/math Death Metal is intoxicating and it’s easy to lose yourself within their interesting song structures and riffs. The EP contains enough twists and turns to keep a firm grip on your attention from begining to end, but the unusual time-signatures are not over used. At no point was I left with the impression that the band were just showing off for the sake of showing off.
Musically, “True Fear” is terrifically technical, but the vocals bring about a near alien savagery. Yes, they are your typical Death Metal growls, but when placed within the band’s complicated Math Metal riffs, they sound primal. It’s a fantastic juxtaposition! The clean vocals in “Quickly” show yet another dimension to A Total Wall universe.
This is an EP that deserves your full attention – elevator music it ain’t! It doesn’t quite achieve perfection, but it’s more than a good start.
Rating: 73%
