CATEGORY 7 Feat. OVERKILL, EXODUS, ARMORED SAINT And Ex-MACHINE HEAD Members: Debut Album Details Revealed
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CATEGORY 7, the new band featuring former MACHINE HEAD and current KERRY KING guitarist Phil Demmel, ex-ADRENALINE MOB guitarist Mike Orlando, ARMORED SAINT/ex-ANTHRAX singer John Bush, OVERKILL/SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner and EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson, will release its self-titled debut album on July 26 via Metal Blade Records.
With veteran musicians from so many legendary bands, it's hard not to think of CATEGORY 7 as a supergroup.
"I think we're pretty super," jokes Demmel, who has also earned mega-metal cred over the decades as a member of VIO-LENCE and has played as a fill-in road guitarist for SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD, OVERKILL and others. "Really, I feel like this is a band, not a side project. And I feel like we have written this incredible piece of music, and we're not done. I'm so proud of the way this came together and the people who were involved. And I think we all feel super positive about this and what else we can do with it going forward."
The songs on the band's self-titled debut speak for themselves. As crushing and confrontational as an armed rebellion, as rhythmically thunderous as a storm of golf ball-sized hail, and as fiercely melodic as infectious riffs and aggressive vocals can be, CATEGORY 7 is a new breed of metal that lives up to the storied histories of its members. They're as heavy as a battleship, yet the songs are meticulously structured, skillfully balancing thrash beats, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal rhythms, punk metal attitude, blistering and ferocious dual guitar work, and scar-inflicting vocals.
"It's all about big verses and big songs, and it has a lot of the elements we've explored in our other bands," explains guitarist and main songwriter Mike Orlando (ADRENALINE MOB, SONIC UNIVERSE, NOTURNALL).
Take the upbeat album opener "In Stitches", which starts with piledriving double-bass drums, a feral thrash passage, and a fiery lead before toning down just enough for the distinctive vocals to stand out.
"It gets heavy, it's thrashy at times, but it opens up in the verses, and then the double-bass drums come in and knock you off your chair, but in a great way," Orlando says.
Bush further elaborates, "I read an article on an unhoused pregnant woman named Stitches who resided in Los Angeles obviously living a very difficult life that was compounded by mental illness and drug abuse. The encampment situation in my beloved city drives me bats. I balance between serious empathy and complete anger. The combination of imagining her life as well as my own internal turmoil led me to an almost humorous insanity state while writing this scathing album opener."
CATEGORY 7, named after the numerical designation for the most powerful wind storms, came together from a batch of musicians who strived to play music they loved and weren't hearing elsewhere, and wanted to do so with bandmates they enjoyed being with. Orlando and Demmel became friends after taking part in a batch of tributes to the late OZZY OSBOURNE guitarist Randy Rhoads. The seeds of CATEGORY 7 were then cemented one night a couple years later when Orlando went to hang out at the Clifton, New Jersey metal club Dingbatz as Demmel was filling in on lead guitar for OVERKILL, which also featured SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner."Category 7" features art and layout by Carlos Fides at Artside Studio (ANGRA, EVERGREY, KAMELOT). The record will be available on CD and digital formats as well as several vinyl color variants. Watch the official video for "In Stitches" here.
"Category 7" track listing:
01. In Stitches
02. Land I Used To Love
03. Apple Of Discord
04. Exhausted
05. Runaway Truck
06. White Flags & Bayonets
07. Mousetrap
08. Waver At The Breaking Point
09. Through Pink Eyes
10. Etter Stormen
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
