Savage After Midnight – ’11:59′

Savage After Midnight is taking the hard rock world by storm with the release of their debut EP 11:59. Fresh off of the road in support of Pop Evil on their North American tour, the band is looking to make a name for themselves after almost a decade of making music. Over the last 10 years, the band has been recording their debut album and hitting bumps in the road along the way. They have changed producers and labels, been caught in legal battles and hit every roadblock imaginable to get where they are now. Instead of releasing their album as a whole, the band decided to break it into 2 EPs: 11:59 (out now via Century Music Records / RED MUSIC) and 12:01 which will drop later this year.

The band has a lot of driving bass lines and group vocals reminiscent of punk. They incorporate keyboards and electronic elements but it has an extra heavy element on top that makes it unique and brings those styles together. The opening track, “Unleash,” is an aggressive song that grabbed my attention from the very beginning. It has an incredibly catchy chorus that is heavy and poppy at the same time. I am a big fan of the back and forth between the clean vocals and the aggressive, heavy side that is shown here and the group vocals in the chorus line add that little extra layer that makes this opener shine.

The next track is “10 Feet Tall” and was the first song that I had heard from Savage After Midnight. Quite frankly, its no surprise this song has gotten the band some attention. It starts softly and then explodes into the huge anthem chorus. The booming chant vocal is catchy and easy to sing along to. The bass line pushes the song ahead and the drum fills going into the end of the track are nothing short of incredible.

The latest single,“Heartless Machine,” is slow and focuses largely on clean vocals in the higher register and has some clean and melodic guitar solos. The bass and drums push it forward with a heavy feeling despite the cleaner elements of this song. The last chorus is more of an explosion with the vocals just a little heavier and the band doing double time in the background.

“King” is my favorite track on the record. It is more aggressive, from the drum fills that lead the song into a heavy riff that keeps it at a more up-tempo feel. The chorus is catchy and huge, combining clean and heavy vocals in unison. The song also features what is easily the heaviest breakdown on the release. “Overrated” is heavy along the same vein. It has a punk beat that pushes the song forward until the breakdown, which actually goes to a half-time feel. This opens the track up for the big finish, which is another larger-than-life, anthem-like conclusion that leaves you wanting more.

11:59 shows a lot of promise from a band that has put in the hard work to get there. The EP packs a punch, even though it comes in right around 17 minutes in total. From a marketing perspective, this is the best way to make a statement – 11:59 seems to be over before it gets started. We get introduced to Savage After Midnight in a big way but still left wanting more. That will pay off when 12:01 drops later this year. Make sure you check out 11:59, out everywhere now!

TAGS: Savage After Midnight | Century Media Records | RED MUSIC