Shroud by SpaceMetal

I'm not in the bayou this week and already I am homesick for the heavy swamp tunes. Anyone who has yet to hear Shroud by SpaceMetal is in for some heavy riffs, killer vocals, and lyrics that are way more enticing than the usual. And these fine Southern gentlemen offered up some FREE download codes to the friends of Fuzzy so read on for the Fuzzy Cracklins review of the heavy metal Shroud by SpaceMetal (and to claim your download code).......



Hit that Bandcamp preview link and let's listen to Shroud together, shall we? The title track makes for a great album opener: a heavy doomy riff to get you hooked, hints at more doom to come, and then the chainsaws kick in to really pummel your brain. Ahh then then those vocals.... man, this is exactly the kind of singing you want with this music. I really dig the lyrics; these guys go above and beyond with mini vignettes for their songs; read on below for more about the story behind the lyrics.

I ain't gonna go through every track here; get your download code below and listen for yourself. If you dig the title track you are going to really dig the rest of the album. And besides, I asked the guys in SpaceMetal for some background on these heavy tunes and they kindly shared some great stuff with us....


First off, you can catch these guys at in southern Louisiana at gigs are in Houma, LA at Boxer and The Barrel on December 15 with Motoriot, and on February 1 in Metairie, LA at Babylon Sportsbar with some killer area bands (Leafdrinker, Shadow Giant, Dead Machine Theory). SpaceMetal is also booked for the GCMA Metal and Beer Festival in Gulfport, MS. This is the second year for the event. Attendees will get to drink some SpaceMetal beer! In fact, they are going to try a sample batch of an IPA for it next week. How cool is that??? Hit the SpaceMetal Instagram page to stay in the loop.

Catch the video for Shroud produced by SpaceMetal guitarist John Maracich and subscribe to their YouTube channel to catch their next video coming up soon.


John and Rob took the time to answer some questions and fill in their fans about SpaceMetal --

FUZZY: It has been a few years since the last album. Any particular reason, did you change personnel?

SPACEMETAL: No changes to personnel. In this case, it just took us a long time to have the material we wanted to do the complete album. Plus, that chocolate fountain at Golden Corral took the place of so many potential practices and songwriting sessions.

FUZZY: The cover artwork is amazing, who did that?

SPACEMETAL: The front cover is a Flamerion engraving, which is a wood engraving by an unknown artist that was first published in 1888.

The inside cover artwork of the CD packaging is a piece of art by Dean Latusek.

FUZZY: Any gigs coming up?

SPACEMETAL: We are busy booking some gigs for the end of the year and 2019. The two upcoming gigs are in Houma, LA at Boxer and The Barrel on December 15 with Motoriot, and on February 1 in Metairie, LA at Babylon Sportsbar with some killer area bands (Leafdrinker, Shadow Giant, Dead Machine Theory). We are also booked for the GCMA Metal and Beer Festival in Gulfport, MS. This is the second year for the event, so we are psyched to do it this year. Attendees will get to drink some SpaceMetal beer! In fact, we are going to try a sample batch of an IPA for it next week.

We hope to be booking a Texas run in 2019 among others.

FUZZY: Your fans need to check out your videos.

SPACEMETAL: Both videos were produced by our guitarist, John Maracich. "New Blood" was filmed at House of Blues New Orleans by Chris Chaos of Alt 92.3 in New Orleans. We will be releasing "Forest of Faith" next. Stay tuned for that.

FUZZY: Did you guys meet in NOLA and what is the story behind that. New Orleans has so much musical history; did any of that impact your music?

SPACEMETAL: Ages ago, John and Rob were in an original metal band called Dead Rebecca that played around NOLA. Chris T. and Travis basically got things going years ago when they would put together Black Sabbath tributes at the yearly House of Blues staff party. Eventually that project morphed into an 80's metal tribute (including wigs and costumes) with John, Rob and drummer Chris Kain that played for years and got some pretty great gigs. Highlights: opening for WASP and Anvil. Eventually the itch to play original music became too powerful and we started writing. Eventually we tossed the cover band concept and started the SpaceMetal project.

As far as the musical history, we were right in the thick of the New Orleans metal. At the time all the bands practiced in the Old Arabi metal sheds. https://www.facebook.com/oldarabisheds/

Pantera Phil (who was in a local cover band,) Kirk from Crowbar, Pepper from Down and Corrosion, Soilent Green and many others all practiced in those sheds by the levee of the Mississippi River. We even jammed with Dave Fortman (producer of Slipknot, Evanescence and member of Ugly Kid Joe) when his band's gig was cancelled at Storyville. So it was a pretty interesting time to grow up and just hang out with a bunch of musical geniuses and freaks.

FUZZY: Your lyrics are a lot more thoughtful and interesting than the average. If you want to talk about any of the songs in particular or the stories behind them.

SPACEMETAL: Thanks for the compliment. I [John] basically write the lyrics and my primary goal was to get away from what I call "angst" lyrics about relationships and being miserable. I leave that to Staind. Of course we all love sci-fi and horror so I just try to come up with strange and interesting concepts that cater to that interest. That being said, the new record is lyrically much darker and borders on angsty but I found it therapeutic to focus on our relationship with our own mortality.

FUZZY: Thanks for taking the time, guys!

And hit those free download codes!

Redeem your code here: https://spacemetal1.bandcamp.com/yum

If one of the codes is already taken, try the next one.