For a trio of Brooklyn seventh graders the boys of hep-hep-hepped-up, see-you-in-the-place-where-Judas-Priest-and-In-Flames-meet melodic metallers Unlocking the Truth have compiled quite a list of accomplishments over the last year or so including — though hardly limited to! — head-turning sets at Coachella, SXSW, and last Sunday’s Barclays Center NBA halftime show; signing a deal with The Cherry Party label to cut a highly anticipated debut album; opening for Motorhead; and, last but not least, scoring both our own Adem Tepedelen and Mike IX from EYEHATEGOD as fans on Facebook.
Though the band has its share of doubters — *cough* MetalSucks *cough* — these kids also got riffs for days, are earnest and motivated as hell, and do not seem fazed at all by high profile/pressure gigs.
Really, who is going to stop them?
Decibel recently checked in with Unlocking the Truth — guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, drummer Jarad Dawkins, and bassist Alec Atkins — to learn a little bit about what inspired them to get their shred on. And while it’s pretty clear someone needs to launch a Kickstarter to buy these dudes the complete Carcass discography and a subscription to a certain extremely extreme monthly music periodical, getting a sense of where the heads of the youth are at is always interesting.
Also, I suppose it was perhaps too optimistic to think any of us could escape experiencing dubstep forever.
1. Killswitch Engage, “The Fire Burns”
Jared: “Overall, this song is good. It sounds nice to me and this was the type of song style that I want my music to sound like. It’s fun, rhythmic and makes me want to dance.”
2. Escape The Fate “This War Is Ours”
Malcolm: “The reason I like this song is mostly because of the guitar work. It has five string sweep picks in the intro and a very heavy main riff. The chorus is also very catchy.”
3. Korn featuring Skrillex “Get Up”
Malcolm: “I like this song because it combines my two favorite genres of music: dubstep and metal. It’s also a very good metal song in general.”
4. Three Days Grace “Let It Die”
Alec: “It’s about relationships and at the time I heard that song, I was able to relate to it because I was going through a difficult time with a girl I had a crush on. I started thinking that it would be cool to make people feel the way that I did if we could play that type of music.”
5. Motionless In White “Abigail”
Malcolm: “This is the song that introduced me to Metalcore music. Metalcore in now one of my favorite music genres.”
6. Disturbed “Remember”/”Down with the Sickness”
Malcolm: “I like ‘Down with the Sickness’ because it is the song that got me interested in the band Disturbed. I was a very big Disturbed fan for at least four years. Also, Disturbed got me into other bands.”
Jarad: “‘Remember’ is very melodic and the song spoke in a lot of ways on how basic life was going to be. Also, as I am growing up, I always go back to this song and just think about how there is a lot of experiences you go through in life.”
