EPK – Nomad – The Mountain (2023)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For fans of Gojira, Lamb of God, Pantera, Sepultura, Devildriver
Band: Nomad
Album Title: The Mountain
Release Date: March 3, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: (Distrokid)
“This has been a long time coming. After so many external factors holding us back we are so happy to finally get this out to the world, and start crushing audiences again. We’re hoping that it fills the need for a little groove in the metal scene. We’ve spoken to many people in the audience after playing a show that say there are not enough bands like Nomad out there that like to slow it down and catch you with a good hook once in a while. We feel that many emotions and influences can be felt throughout this album and are sure to keep the listeners engaged and entertained with heavy riffs, blasting beats, and dynamic vocals.” – Nomad
Facebook.com/nomadmetal | Instagram.com/nomadbandbc | Nomadbc.bandcamp.com | Spotify
““Revolution” takes no time at all to seize attention. The drums clatter and boom with immediately thrilling effect, and around those convulsive strikes the guitars slowly meander and ring in a beguiling harmony. The vocals have their own interesting harmony but flare into rabid, throat-cutting growls. That slithering opening melody, warmed by the bass, reappears and becomes a swelling ear-worm — but with a pause the song transforms into a hulking and jolting brute. The guitars jitter and whine, and the vocals change into goblin-like snarls, creating a feeling of sinister menace, which becomes even more sinister thanks to an exotically swaying and swirling guitar solo whose piercing tones are somehow inviting as well as increasingly crazed. Maniac howls, ugly gurgling expulsions, and berserk screams vent the lyrics with their own groove, while the band as a whole continue on with their nasty but highly headbangable beating.” – No Clean Singing
“The Mountain is a smorgasbord of ideas delivered with unrelenting energy and creativity. It’s not the kind of metal that questions the very foundation of the genre like a Zeal & Ardor would, but it’s really questioning the notion of how many influences a band can integrate into its core identity. This record challenged me and tested my boundaries as a metal fan. This was not exactly my comfort zone as I’m usually more of an atmospheric guy at heart, but it’s not meant to make you feel comfortable. The Mountain is meant to explore the gaps between the past and the present, the harsh and the melodic and the catchy and the complex. New ideas are never easy and they should never be.” – Vox & Hops
“Nomad clearly have a higher purpose musically than just severing eardrums, and the album is an evolution in real-time. While the album has no concrete, overarching story to tell, each song is placed in the order that it was written. The time between opener “Burning Alive” and closer “Choke” puts the wide distance the group has creatively gone through in perspective. While The Mountain starts and ends in a rage, it does so in a different manner. Early on, the groove is strong, but by the latter third of the album, a more technical front is taken. In-between that, the trio of vocalists in the band employ everything from raspy wails to low grunts to melodic singing.” – Heavy Music Headquarters
“Listeners can expect diversity in approach with a meld of groovy death meets modern and semi-progressive influences in terms of hooks and heaviness across these nine tracks – a balancing act that has mixed results… Almost clocking in at an hour, The Mountain has certain appeal for those who love the aggression of modern, progressive groove-oriented metal” – Dead Rhetoric
“what is undeniable is that NOMAD plays the card of singularity, and with a disarming naturalness.” – MetalNews.fr
“for a brand new band coming from a fairly remote area, NOMAD has really hooked my interest and in the future, this might become an extremely potent band.” – Wormwood Chronicles
“they’re really a great band, as shown on songs as “Burning Alive” (where a classic Death/Thrash Metal appeal is clear, with many contrasts between grunts and shrieks, and many hooking parts), “Haunted” (a surprising song, filled with excellent arrangements and surprising elements, as the excellent and technical bass playing and clean chords parts, and tribal percussive moments), “Revolution” (a true and Progressive, with shifts between aggressive and introspective moments with clean vocals), “A Lonely Wanderer” (this one is more aggressive than experimental, abusing of the weight due a very good and technical playing of the drums, and what lovely Progressive melodies can be heard), “Blood Moon” (this one is essentially a Progressive Death Metal song based on a fine technical appeal and some melancholic touches, but always being brutal and aggressive, with excellent guitar parts and themes), and “Choke”. The others ones are equally excellent, so dive into this album without fears (and the lyrics are excellent, staying away from the usual themes based on ‘gore’ and ‘satan’ for some fictional characters, historical events, science fiction, and even Astrophysics)” – Metal Temple
Band: Nomad
Album Title: The Mountain
Release Date: March 3, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: (Distrokid)
Track Listing:
1. Burning Alive (4:30)
2. Haunted (6:00)
3. Revolution (6:05)
4. Relentless (6:09)
5. A Lonely Wanderer (5:08)
6. Blood Moon (9:40)
7. Rise in the Fall (6:20)
8. Processor (6:56)
9. Choke (8:52)
Album Length: 59:38
Album Credits:
– All songs written and performed by Nomad.
– Additional writing contribution by past members:
Kasey Klassen
Lorne Valliers
Dylan Heska
Justin Kleinsasser
– Mixed by Bretton Melanson
– Mastered by Christian Donaldson
– Album Artwork by: Angela Grimmuza/ Art Of Grimmuza
– MAPL – Canadian Content
Album and Live lineup:
Bretton Melanson: Drums/Vocals
Matt Johnstone: Guitar/Vocals
Jeff Mabb: Guitar/Vocals
Josh MacDonald: Bass
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The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
Catchy. Groove Factory & Krank
Note, the tracks on the album are presented in the order they were written. It wasn’t written as a concept album so there isn’t a lot tying one track to the next lyrically.
Track by track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
1. Burning Alive
In the first song we wrote together, Matt had the riffs and brought them to our first practice, which took place at Bretton’s parent’s house, in the attic above their shop, with no air conditioning, in August. It was HOT. The title came from how ridiculously hot we were, and from there the lyrics came to surround the topic of forest fires and is intended as a call-out to any idiot that throws their cigarette butts out their car window.
2. Haunted
An exploration of building on one idea, can we use the same riff for the quiet section as well as the loud. The lyrics follow a man haunted and tormented by demons/hell/the supernatural.
3. Revolution
The first half is our “ballad” clean vocal spot #1. and the second half is rocking out to one hell of a sludge/groove riff, start light, go heavy, it’s kind of our “one” (Metallica). The lyrics call for a revolution, or societal change, redistribution of wealth, symbiosis with nature, and stop messing up the damn planet so our kids have a decent world to live in. The album title comes from the final line of the song (like how Slayer used “God hates us all” from disciple). The “Fuck you” is directed at those that put profits over the preservation of our planet.
4. Relentless
The verses of this song let us have fun with starting a riff slow and speeding it up over the course of the section. Also, drum solo #1 of the album. Lyrically the song portrays the mental struggle of dealing with anxiety induced by the duality of man. An acknowledgment that no matter how much good there is in the world there will always be a dark side to the mind of humankind
5. A Lonely Wanderer
This one starts with some Mongolian Throat singing performed by Jeff and is also based around two main riffs, that we push and pull to bring ups and downs. It tells the story of a Man who’s fed up with society and leaves to live as a recluse, Wandering the wilderness, being a Nomad. This is the guy on the album cover, and on the inside of the CD case.
6. Blood Moon
This is our epic, it’s a long journey through a few different sections. Clean vocal spot #2 in the middle. It tells the story of a werewolf hunter who was bitten while hunting a werewolf and is becoming one himself.
7. Rise in the Fall
The title came first here, and I thought “gee, that sounds like the Russian revolution” one regime rising while the previous one falls, and it happens in the fall… not that deep of a double meaning, but it is one nonetheless. Wish I had written this in high school, would have upped my mark in history class, and I probably would have got a top mark in the school (darn second place). Yes, I am a huge nerd.
8. Processor
This one’s our most Tech death track. Got some really fast double kick bursts, using my low voice a lot for the vocals. The lyrics are about an artificial Intelligence designed to save humankind, who sees that humans are destroying the planet they need to live on, so the best way to preserve humankind is to preserve everyone digitally, and get rid of their bodies, so it’s trying to find every last person, “process” them, and incinerate the bodies, so there’s no further need to consume earth’s resources. The last line of the song says “destroyer of man” in one ear, and “protector of man” in the other
9. Choke
Another pretty long one, hitting different dynamic levels as we go. I looked for other meanings of the word “Choke”, which is the chorus section, Matt took the reins on a number of other sections and went with a cosmic theme, the birth, and death of the universe. We married those different themes together and this is the result.
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:
1. The original form of the band formed after Matt approached Bretton at Armstrong Metalfest in 2015 to get the last required member to start a band. Originally a one-guitar band, the rest eventually decided to get a second and Bretton had been jamming with Jeff just before.
2. Went through 4 different lead singers (well, 3 but one guy came twice, it went Kasey – Justin – Kasey – Dylan) before deciding, screw it, let’s “Mastodon” it, and just share vocals. Bretton took the initiative on lead vocals learning the songs during the pandemic
3. Drums were tracked when we still had singer #1. Really slows down recording when you keep having to start from square one with a new singer.
4. Nomad was together for about a year with only one guitar before getting Jeff in the band. The addition of another guitar really fleshed out the sound and brought new techniques and influences into the band.
5. Djeff’s first jam with the band was right after Matt had moved to a house right beside the baseball fields in Enderby, I remember setting up, hitting my snare drum once, and seeing about a hundred baseball players all turn their heads at once to see what the heck that noise was. We didn’t jam there again.
6. Matt and Jeff have both played with broken ankles.
7. Matt was in the hospital with a blood clot in his brain and almost died, had to leave the hospital early to get to our gig on time.
L-R – Josh MacDonald (Bass), Matt Johnstone (Guitar/Vocals), Bretton Melanson, (Drums/Vocals), Jeff Mabb (Guitar/Vocals)
Photo Credit – Chris Geistlinger
Nomad is a dynamic, progressive death metal band from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada and consists of drummer/vocalist Bretton Melanson; guitarist/vocalist Matt Johnstone; guitarist/vocalist Jeff Mabb; plus bassist Josh MacDonald. Kickstarted by Johnstone who was looking for an outlet, he approached Melanson and since the material felt right and with their previous history playing together, the ball was rolling. Over a few years, there was a lineup flux, with each additional leaving their mark on the material. Ultimately, they then recruited Mabb as a second guitarist and MacDonald on bass, and working collaboratively, they weave their melodic, groovy death metal.
Looking to avoid going too crazy on the violence and gore tropes that are quite prominent in metal music, they tend to tell stories based on fictional characters, historical events, science fiction, and astrophysics. Each member adds their own flair to the songs, imprinting their distinct influences.
When they hit the stage, the audience is greeted by multiple vocalists that deliver a massive wall of layered sound, integrated sound effects, and a well-thought-out visual element. They played Canada’s prominent Armstrong Metalfest in 2016-2019 and performed alongside bands such as Kataklysm, Origin, Soulfly, and Alestorm. They are releasing their debut album “The Mountain” on March 3, 2023.
Tours and Festivals:
Armstrong Metalfest 2016-2017-2018-2019
Shared Stage with: Alestorm, Origin, Nekrogoblikon, Wake, Within Destruction, Kataklysm,Archspire, Neck of the Woods, The Kennedy Veil, Sarah Longfield,
Revocation, Beyond Creation, Dayglo Abortions, Unleash the Archers, Rivers of Nihil, The Zenith Passage, Soulfly, Today is the Day, Pound, West of Hell
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