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I reviewed Spreading The Disease’s EP a couple of years ago and that featured the awesome song ‘Bulldozer’ – a song that did what it said on the tin, namely rolling over the listener with some power. Spreading The Disease are back with their debut album and have been honing their sound with plenty of live shows, where they have supported the likes of NWoBHM stalwarts Quartz and upcoming band Deadly Circus Fire.
Spreading The Disease consist of Jack Apella (drums and percussion), Steve Saunders(Bass and backing vocals), Connor Russell Snyder (Lead vocals) and Martin Osbourne (Guitars and Backing vocals).
The band wanted to create metal music without any musical constraints and they have certainly created a varied mix of songs, each one led by the distinctive growling vocals of Connor Russell Snyder. They do a bit of atmospherics on ‘Discord’ – like a very metal prog metal, whilst the lead single ‘Greed’ has already been shown on Scuzz TV and shows the band’s knack for combining aggressive vocals/guitar with a melodic and memorable chorus. Not unlike Slipknot, with a bit more melody!
Lyrical they don’t pull any punches, as ‘Brexit Wounds’ and the aforementioned ‘Greed’ both deal with the modern political climate. ‘Brexit Wounds’ also contains a proper old school 80′s metal solo, very tasty indeed.
It pays to go outside your musical comfort zone if it means discovering bands like Spreading The Disease. Passionate playing, metal fuelled riffage and a vocalist who could strip wallpaper off at fifty paces, Spreading The Disease will please all those after a brutal, yet at all times melodic, modern metal fix. ***1/2
Review by Jason Ritchie
We asked the band a few questions about their new album, touring and their plans for 2018 and beyond…
With the new album ‘Insurrection’ out now have the band been pleased with the reviews and fans reaction to date?
Yes very much so, we were a bit concerned due the fact that we don’t write songs you can allocate a genre too, we tend to have quite a unique style so we did not know how it would be accepted. Some people don’t quite get where we are coming from and some tend to be a bit closed minded as to what we do, and why we don’t write to fit in a genre. On the whole though everyone has been totally amazing, some great reviews indeed and the fans always tell us they like the bands music.
Could you take us through the writing and recording process for the album and ideas behind the songs?
Basically Martin and I tend to write the basic songs then the rest of the band add there parts and ideas till done. We already have album 2 in the bag pretty much. We write quickly. Martin and I seem to click instantly and kind of know what a riff needs next without really making an effort. Connor and Jack also pick up fast and know what to add. We record in Magpie studios down in Kent, it’s a great place and Charlie Creese the owner works well with us, he’s a great engineer and producer.
What have been the live highlights for the band to date and why?
Having pretty much been on the road for near on 2 years non stop since the debut EP release in February 2016, we have played some great venues, worked with some amazing people and some of the highlights would definitely be the 02 Academy Birmingham, Rebellion Manchester, Facebarmaggedon with Evil Scarecrow, Raging Speedhorn and many more cool bands, recently having played the Scala in London, Scuzz sponsored night with Trauma PR running the events was amazing, packed venue great atmosphere and professionals running the shows .
How are Spreading The Disease finding getting gigs in the UK? Is the live scene still surviving despite venues closing at an alarming rate?
Steve books the gigs, he is constantly chasing gigs and most of the time organises events himself for us and adds bands to the bill. We have played with dozens of cool bands, met loads of cool people and had a lot of fun.
The venue situation is difficult, everyone has trouble filling the places, despite even being bigger bands, it is a series of things that come to mind as to why many venues don’t do well. Too many bands, not enough money, same bands round and round again, festivals, smoking rules, cost of drinks, travel situations and other. We made a conscious decision to play all over the place and have played some great gigs and some bad ones but overall the idea was to create a buzz for the band, get the name out and keep it in peoples minds.
In an ideal world who would Spreading The Disease like to tour with and why?
There are many bands we would be happy to tour with, but if we had to choose one, we would I am sure all choose Slipknot. We all are into them and some of what we do reflects that. We like their ethos.
What have the band got planned for the next few months and what would you like to have achieved by this time next year?
This year now, 2018, we decided to slow the pace a little now and take a little break, get writing done of the next album and see our families a bit etc. we have been and still are working in the background a lot, we have a manager in the USA who is well respected, working hard and currently negotiating various arrangements but to date nothing finalised. We are looking to try and tour Europe and the USA and are working hard toward that goal. Of course promote the new album everywhere, a new video filmed late spring too with our friends at Visual Lines in Dover, great video company. We would of course love to play festivals but that is down to them offering us a slot. Meantime we move forward and work hard and hopefully will be offered slots having earnt them by merit. Things are going well, we have already had some great gigs come in this year and we have not hardly lifted a finger yet to book. That shows people are taking notice and we do really appreciate that.
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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024
In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections
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