In times when there is a flood of bands in the Heavy Music world that are attempting to swim to shore, there are very few bands that offer the musicality, the intensity, and the vibe that Resolution 15 from New York City is offering at currently. Added to this is how well they blend their crushing music together and always present to the masses a powerful message.
Recently the Resolution 15 guys, Nick Serr (Vocals), Earl Maneein and Joel Lambdin (Violins), Kenny Grohowski (Drums), and Jim Robertson (Bass), decided to record a series of single track recordings. The concept behind "The Svaha Sessions" is to present to the listener a raw, organic, and versatile recording. In times when a lot of bands are being over produced, Resolution 15 is letting their music speak for them and not Captain Pro Tools.
Tomorrow (July 5), they are presenting the second track out of the "The Svaha Sessions" (
available here), this time they decided to record their own version of U2's anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Produced by Ryan Kelly (Opeth, Winds of Plague, Beyonce etc.), it will be available for only $1.00 at their
Bandcamp website.
There are several remarkable things about this release and about Resolution 15's musical philosophy:
- The most remarkable characteristic is that this band has completely eliminated guitars from their line-up.
- Resolution 15 uses custom made 7-string electric violins to achieve the intensity and heaviness that guitars offer in Heavy Metal.
- Their music is realized on these unique instruments, and because of that they are able to pull away from simply playing guitar driven metal riffs on acoustic instruments.
- They realize this new sound by translating some aspects of Metal guitar playing, and merging these with the inherent strengths of bowed strings, and finally super-charging that sound through guitar heads and cabinets.
- The next, and perhaps most interesting item is that they are recording live in-studio to 2” analog tape. In an age of digital sound-replacement, beat detection, unlimited undo, and compulsive editing, they are instead minimizing edits and going for full takes. Like it’s meant to be.
“I don’t take on many Metal projects these days”. I miss hearing a recording back from tape and knowing it was actually performed instead of constructed. I think recordings can lose a lot without the live aspect. Music is collaborative, and I feel recorded music should reflect that. Resolution 15 is a group of musicians that can deliver a solid live performance and I wanted to convey that with these recordings.” - Ryan Kelly (Producer)
“We are really happy with how it turned out. We have never recorded all together in this way, and we were a little nervous about it. But we feel like we’re on the right track. We know what we need to do.” - Nick Serr (Vocalist)
"It’s good to be free from the album format for a while. There’s nothing wrong with it, but we can change the way we do things for each track if we want to, and not worry about losing the continuity you expect on an album.” - Earl Maneein (Violinist)
What we find real interesting and exciting about "The Svaha Sessions" is that the band can keep up with the demand of their fans by releasing new material constantly, instead of making them wait for a full-length release and then they might lose momentum. Also, with single tracks far outstripping full-length records in sales, there has to be a good reason to do a whole album. By no means is Resolution 15 eliminating the idea of releasing another full-length, they simply are offering their fans something of quality and musically interesting to listen to more often.
The bands next live performance will be on July 8th, 2011 at the Mercury Lounge in New York City .
Related links:
The Svaha Sessions on Bandcamp
Resolution 15
Resolution 15 on Facebook
Resolution 15 on Twitter
