Daniel Digs - In Silent Agony
It all started with a little thing called Fear. Brandon "Eski" Ortiz is an all man band, or rather, metal master. Former Morphine Killer band mastermind, Eski, has morphed from a passionate dream pursuer into a professional metal house and does it all by himself.
While, "professional" might be subject to opinion I think he does excellent, hence the reason I dig it. But what exactly do I dig?
Brandon is an all around humble, respectful guy who cares deeply about his family and his dreams. He is a great friend but even if he wasn't his music is mind blowing. I've reviewed the Morphine Killer stuff a long, long time ago and kept up with his work reviewing Fear, Villainous and Treacherous. Each album gets better and better and instead of just telling you about Treacherous and waiting to tell you about Overzealous and Instrumentals Vol. 1 I'm going to do it all now in a summary of epic-ness.
DAMN!
That about sums it up. I'll see you next time!
Nah, I'm just playin' I'll tell you more! In Silent Agony produces some badassery in metal. It grooves well with metal heads, hard rockers, intense groovers and casual body movers. The music bleeds through and really causes your heart to crunch, your mind to balls-out and your body to hop with fury!
Back when I first heard Brandon, I thought his vocals would not work for mainstream very well. I heard some people I shared the music with say how his vocals threw the groove off. I stuck it out anyway because if you can hone in on the music you'll get randy. Then, you can see that his vocals match some deep, sometimes poetic lyrics and suddenly, it's pretty good. Unfortunately, many people give music a small chance and don't dig deep if something rubs them wrong. His vocal style of rasps and whispers in a gravely, difficult-to-understand fashion really did have some push away power. But man, if you could overlook that or, better yet, match it with the story in his lyrics it would make sense and bring you back around at least long enough for that brilliant music!
As In Silent Agony progressed the music became more varied, songs started to separate themselves from one another and the tempos fluctuated. His vocals became more instantly tolerable and by the time Overzealous came I was blown away by the immediate likability of it. It was, by far, my favorite album. I revisited previous EPs and found them to be more delightful than the first go around.
Then, I was mind melded when he released Instrumentals Vol. 1. This was perfection in its finest! You see, Brandon felt a little similar in knowing that his vocals might throw newcomers off, those who need a smooth vocal to give credibility to likability. So, this was released. Actually, it was released for many reasons but it did address some of the critics in a smart, beautiful way. And boy, the magic really does shine through! It really is badass! The music evokes so many emotions and by just listening to the blistering beauty of it lets my mind run wild. Even the songwriter inside me comes up with melodies and harmonies and vocal attacks and I feel like I'm part of the band even though In Silent Agony is a one man band.
In Silent Agony is a masterpiece of metal for a large variety of music lovers who like metal just a little bit or a whole hell of a lot. I was able to forgive the uncomfortable vocals to dive deeper into the music but really, his vocal style matched the mood and lyrics well and it'd be a little tough for me to hear someone else throw down on the music. However, I know I'd still love it and for those who are turned away by his raspy, whispery vocal style I'm positive if you tuned into just the music you'd freak out in a good way. If you are a first timers to In Silent Agony please check out the instrumental EP first. But do check out the others starting with Overzealous. If the vocal style hurts you please look up his lyric videos on youtube because if you can understand the lyrics you will like the style more. In fact, after you check out Instrumentals Vol. 1 head to youtube and watch his lyric videos, then go to his other albums. For me, that was the magic formula.
Originally, I could dig 6 or 7 feet out of 10 but now that his latest lyric EP, Overzealous (8 out of 10) and this stellar Instrumentals Vol. 1 (10 out of 10) is upon us, and going back through the lineup of his EP history I dig In Silent Agony 9 out of 10 feet deep!