The Love Load is a rock/metal/punk band from Washington D.C. consisting of just three enthusiasts: Ted Watts (bass, vocals), Ben Azzara (drums), Blaine Misner (guitar, back vocals). On December 14, 2015 they released their new EP called Metal Mothman. The main figure of the album is the Mothman, the cryptid that was widely discussed by the residents of Point Pleasant, west Virginia, some of whom asserted they saw this mythical beast with their own eyes. Whether this creature ever existed or not, it served as a perfect subject for The Love Load to create some fine pieces of art.
The sound of the band reminded me of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, but it doesn’t bereave the trio of their own signature. The music is dark and heavy, but, at the same time, it is easy to listen, due to the organic melodies, – ingenious and sophisticated. Most of the time, contemporary metal is associated with trivial and primitive tunes, played with high distortion and a lot of attitude, which looks rather pathetic, for no image can disguise that the dilettants just want to look cool, mimicking the style of those who are considered being heroes; having no idea about music at all. This is not the case. The Love Load is an experienced and skilfull band, which will take you back to the 70’s and 80’s, when rock was not the public image, nor business, but the way of life.
Metal Mothman is a perfect album, in the sense that every song is a part of one story, one legend, they all are interconnected. The lyrics deserve high attention, for they rake an incredible writer over the coals, – throughout the album they keep your imagination active, bringing pictures of a dark night, the red eyes and the horrible beast before your eyes. Some tracks are more like story telling, recital. I would like to emphasize The Bridge here, which is a satiric narration-speculation on mankind “evolution” with all its “metal getting harder”, the frailty of infrastructure that caused the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967, involving the Mothman embellishment.
The voice of the vocalist is art-house and unconventional, its delivery is so artistic, that you can’t help but transfer to the places where everything took place. The sound in general produced proficiently, – there’s nothing in excess, – the stuff but not the fluff. Every resonance is in place and improves the tune.
On the whole, I would definitely recommend every music lover to check out this EP and the band. I should mention that I am not by a darn sight a metal fan, but I appreciate music, and Metal Mothman has caused a stir in my imagination and pleased my ear, as well as it made me think, – the ability to do it to the listener is a very important aspect of any artistic creation. I deeply appreciate musicians who stick to the old school ideas of making music, – in the time, when artificial sound has replaced the live human essence, I feel a great respect for those who keep doing it the original way.
4/5 Stars
Anastasia Shanueva