A Familiar Encounter EP
Thursday, 09 April 2009 12:02 | 
Author: The Grouch | 
A long time ago in a land far away (North West Indiana or Da Region as it is known) I was a high school teacher. Yes, hard to believe isn't it? I taught high school for six years. (Japanese and German if you are interested) In all that time I had TWO students who were good students and more importantly good kids. Those two good kids have grown into good guys that I consider friends.
One kid, Chucky (he hates it when I call him that) is one of the funniest people I've ever met. Chucky made me laugh my ass off. He is now all grown up and jetting around the world as an international business man. To quote Chucky "I knew I'd arrived when a Japanese colleague puked all over my shoes as I kept him from falling face first into a pile of trash in an ally in Singapore."
The other kid is Garret Willis (second from the left above). Garret is a very smart man - he actually has a degree in Rocket Science. That degree helped him get a killer job with a very high security clearance to boot. Cool or what?
The other side of Garret is hard ass rocker guitar god heart throb wannna be...OK I made that up. He does however rock quite hard.
Take a listen to their EP on their My Space page.
In all honesty these songs are much better than I expected. The music is tight and fairly complicated. I can hear a twinge of Metallica/Iron Maiden in their music. I mean that in the best way, although I'm not a fan of either of those groups I have to say the guys can play.
Basically a Familiar Encounter can be summed up as:
1. Heavy ominous bass - somewhat Geezer Butler-esque
2. Loud cranking guitar- is that a Randy Rhodes influence I hear?
3. Righteous pounding on the drums - I'd love to see this guy play up close.
4. A singer's voice that doesn't annoy me - that sounds so harsh, he's actually good.
5. Good use of phrasing and transitions from soft to heavy and back.
Check out the songs and tell me what you think. If these guys are as tight live as they were in the studio they can go places.
All in all a killer EP
Update: Over the past couple of days I've been frequently listening to these tracks, plus one additional track that is not on My Space.
I've decided that they get a scowl boost. The band is just so tight and the guitar player makes it scream. The man can play! I wondered if there is a Dio influence here. Garret says not that he is aware of, however it could be the bands these guys dig were influenced by Dio. Listen to the music and see if you hear it as well. If you like LOUD music with blazing guitar licks then by all means check these guys out!
3 and 1/2 scowls out of 5