EPK – Rockin’ Engine – Altered By Evil (2023)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For fans of Gojira, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Lamb Of God
EP Title: Altered By Evil
Release Date: July 7, 2023
Label: Self-Release
“People who already follow us will notice a huge musical growth since our last EP in 2020. Our sound has evolved quite a bit, technical and more refined, but still punchy and heavy as Hell! After “The Wretched And The Damned”, we knew exactly where we were heading with our next record, and we can proudly say that we achieved our goal. It’s horror, it’s creepy, it’s dark, yet it’s also creative, fun and theatrical at times. Anyone who listens to this album will be brought into a psycho-horror fantasy, where Wes Craven meets Stanley Kubrick, where Ramirez meets Bundy, where “Tubular Bells” meets “Dies Irae”. The various subtle influences and nuances gathered in this work will please any hardcore horror movie fanatic, but also anyone who can plunge themselves into an imaginary world of monsters and evil spirits. We are certain that our new EP ‘Altered By Evil’ will define the future of Rockin’ Engine and that fans will receive this as our best work yet!” – Rockin’ Engine
Facebook.com/rockinengineofficial | Instagram.com/rockinengine | Twitter.com/Rockin_Engine | Youtube.com/c/RockinEngine
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“It’s a six-song, high-energy EP that’s just as succinct in purpose and impact as it is intricately composed.” – Metal Underground
“There’s a scathing, contemporary thrash quality throughout the song “Libre Ex-Mortis” that brings to mind Lamb Of God musically while juxtaposed against melodic vocals that are almost pop-like in the vein of Night Demon. This contrast is interesting and most notable on “Monsters Under Your Bed” because of the interplay between the beaming vocals and the slick, pseudo-death metal barrage. Considering the accessible sounds, it’s obvious that the Canucks seek commercial success should that path become available to them. However the cookie may crumble in time, “Altered By Evil” is an enjoyable release for those who don’t mind aspects of the popular side of modern metal.” – Metal Underground
“Altered by Evil is a powerful and adrenaline-fueled ride through the realms of Heavy Metal. With their impressive musicianship, strong songwriting, and commanding vocals, Rockin’ Engine delivers an album that will leave fans of the genre craving more.” – Metal Express Radio
“The fusion of hard rock, thrash, and modern groove metal gives Rockin’ Engine potential to appeal to numerous audiences based on the material present with Altered by Evil. Standing on the precipice of glory, this quartet could be valuable to most label rosters based on the talent and quality songwriting delivered here. 8/10” – Dead Rhetoric
“The Shining inspired “Room 185” finds the band joined by Steph Jomphe of Insurrection fame for a cut that brings the blood stained curtain down in style. The riffs hit like tidal waves, the percussion from Joel Bilodeau absolutely huge and the mix from Dark Moon Productions absolutely nailed to perfection [8.5/10]” – Metal Noise
“Unlike others who choose to combine their love of horror and metal, what makes Rockin’ Engine stand out is they’re not winking at us here. These are tracks inspired by horror, both fiction and non-fiction, and moulded around Rockin’ Engine’s thrash sound. They’ve not adapted their music to fit the horror, it’s the other way around. 8/10” – Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
“Vocalist/guitarist Steve O Leff is the ceremonial leader to this dramatic mayhem, whether from the perspective of a murderer on “Psycho Path” or the literal ringleader to a psychopathic band of killers on “Carnival Of Evil.” For those with knowledge of all things horror, half of the enjoyment to Altered By Evil is figuring out what each song is about.” – Heavy Music Headquarters
““Altered By Evil” has an enormously powerful and balanced sound for a disc that was created entirely on its own. Respect gentlemen! Mandatory listening!” – My Revelations
“Heavy, powerful and charismatic, “Altered By Evil” is by far their best work. Look forward to the hell Rockin’ Engine will ignite wherever they perform. If Gojira, Lamb Of God and Rob Zombie had a child, Rockin’ Engine would be their bastard son. Their fusion of hard rock and thrash metal will set any stage ablaze and leave everyone with bad whiplash.” – Amplified Mag
“Another skull battering of technical riffs with a killer guitar tone “Monsters Under Your Bed” is a huge arena filling sing-a-long anthem with a *ahem* monstrous chorus but doesn’t lose any of the bands trademark guitar punch in its creation. The balance they have found on this one is on a knife edge and if it didn’t happen to be the bands tribute to Wes Craven and the Nightmare on Elm Street saga then Steve O Leff has actually done a fantastic job at giving us something lyrically to which we can all relate. Who hasn’t had a sleepless night running from the demons of their past mistakes?” – Metal Noise
“This is obviously a band that knows how to play to their strengths. As the subject matter changes for each song, The Exorcist, The Evil Dead, The Shining, etc.. so does the music. Not drastically, you can still tell it’s the same band, but it keeps everything nice and fresh through the release. Six tracks over a 30-minute period is about right… other bands take note… Quality over quantity wins it for me every time. This is as good as anything I hear from mid-sized labels over here in Europe. The fact that this is a self-release tells you how fucked our industry is as this really deserves a bigger and more widespread audience that’ll probably get. Puck this up on July 7th.” – Smorg Mag
“Although the band is often labeled a Heavy Metal band on the album’s opening notes, we clearly feel more violent influences than heavy, we could almost put them on the border of Thrash. So the band proposes an album having an identity that is its own while trying to renew the style, the prod while being modern does not fall into the cliché of the over-auction and the crossing of different styles gives an excellent result so you can be tight be surprised to hear a riff or beat that could very well have been in the middle of a death album to which the band add a brilliant voice for a very convincing result. We’ll wait to see the sequel to know if the group will want to lead, even if we don’t really know where the group wants to go, it’s a refreshing approach to them.” – Metal In Veins
“If you like it a bit spooky and love rock at the same time, this is the place for you. Let’s go” – Metal-Heads.de
“This is a seriously interesting half hour of entertainment, both music and story wise.” – Wings of Death
“Speed, brutal, so good !!” FRÉQUENCE METAL
“this ENGINE is runnin’ and rockin’ on all cylinders with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.” – KNAC
“Anyone who likes groovy and modern Heavy Metal should definitely risk an ear here and get an idea of the morbid goings-on.” – PowerMetalde
“Followers of PANTERA, MEGADETH, FIFE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, GOJIRA, LAMB OF GOD and PRONG should feel addressed by this motley horror metal cocktail mix. Interested people should risk an ear and listen to be on the safe side.” – FFM-Rock
“I have the feeling that as the EP progresses the music gets darker and darker, and I like that. Of course horror is an interesting source of inspiration for dark (metal) music, I think Rockin’ Engine has handled that very well here. This is a seriously interesting half hour of entertainment, both music and story wise.” – Wings of Death
“Midnight Road Rage” has great instrumental ideas. It’s an album that makes us proud. Love at first sound. It’s such a pity that it is only of eight tracks. Believe me. You won’t regret.” – Metal Addicts (2019 – Midnight Road Rage)
“a bombastic and heavy hitting forty minutes of metal and rock, full of swagger and sass.” – Metal Gods TV (2019 – Midnight Road Rage)
Matzes Gitarrenbude Radio Station: Album Of The Year – 2019 – Midnight Road Rage
[Download EP Cover | Download EP Lyrics]
EP Title: Altered By Evil
Release Date: July 7, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Track Listing:
1. Carnival Of Evil – 5:45
2. Day Of Wrath – 4:22
3. Liber Ex-Mortis – 4:59
4. Monsters Under Your Bed – 5:11
5. Psycho Path – 5:23
6. Room 185 – 4:13 ft. guest vocals Steph Jomphe (Insurrection)
EP Length: 29:55
EP Credits:
All songs performed by: Rockin’ Engine (Guest feature of Steph Jomphe “INSURRECTION” in Room 185)
• All songs written by: Rockin’ Engine
Produced by: Dark Moon Productions
Mixed by: Dark Moon Productions
Mastered by: Dark Moon Productions
Album Artwork by: Steve O Leff (Image reference from Adobe Stock and Shutterstock)
Member of SOCAN
EP Recording and Live Band Lineup:
Steve O Leff – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Ste Vy Leff – Lead Guitar
JP Buzzard – Bass
Joel Bilodeau – Drums/Vocals
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The EP as a whole
“Altered By Evil” is a tribute to everything we love about horror movies and serial killer documentaries. There’s a fascination behind the love of the macabre and the grotesque that we wanted to explore with our lyrics and expose different nuances of some classic works of art. With this album, we’re bringing the audience into a fantasy world of monsters and evil spirits, with a dash of historical elements that makes the listening experience even more interesting.
Track by Track explained:
Carnival Of Evil:
Inspired by the works of Rob Zombie, more specifically Sid Haig’s fictional character Captain Spaulding, the Carnival Of Evil is a group of creepy gypsy-looking psychopathic killers moving from town to town, not only to amuse the audiences but also to terrorize them as their spectacles take place. They are ruthless yet charismatic, and they will stop at nothing to deliver a performance to die for!
Day Of Wrath:
This dramatic piece was originally inspired by one of my favourite horror movies, The Exorcist. However, it was only when I did some research on the origins of its musical score that I discovered the amazing historical value behind this masterpiece. Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, is probably one of the best horror movie songs ever written, but there were certain parts in the movie where I had the feeling I’ve heard similar music before and it got me curious. In fact, Dies Irae (Day Of Wrath) was originally a poem written by Christian monks in the thirteenth century describing the day that God would descend on earth and unleash his final judgment on us all. This poem was later compiled amongst other literature pieces in a manuscript named Carmina Burana. The manuscript, which is thought to have been written in the fifteenth century, was only found in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern, in Bavaria. This collection later inspired many orchestral virtuosos, including Verdi and Carl Orff, to compose what I think are the best classical works of all time.
Liber Ex-Mortis:
Inspired by the amazing Evil Dead saga, more specifically Army Of Darkness, Liber Ex-Mortis (Book Of The Dead) is the story of a man who was sent into the Middle Ages through an evil spirit wormhole and is forced to battle the undead in his quest to return to the present. He forms an alliance with two rival armies, and together, they vanquish the forces of evil to send them back into the Book Of The Dead, the spirit world.
Monsters Under Your Bed:
This is the story of a young woman haunted by her past, her imaginary monster. Being sleep deprived for a long time, she fears falling asleep as she constantly feels her monster’s presence around her. The monster, however, can only harm her in her dreams, her nightmares… or so she thinks! Inspired by the genius work of Wes Craven, Monsters Under Your Bed is our version of the infamous Nightmare On Elm Street. This piece is heavy, punchy, and catchy, and will satisfy the eyes and ears of any horror movie fanatic!
Psycho Path:
I’ve always been fascinated and intrigued by human behaviour, especially the deviant nature of humans. I’m a huge fan of serial killer documentaries, not because I support their actions, but mostly to try to understand the origin and the nature of Evil. Actor Christian Bale in his role in American Psycho is actually the main reason why I started learning more about actual historical psychopathic characters such as Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez. During the writing process of this song, I wanted to take a different approach to their stories and tell them according to their point of view, like an actual psychopath. It’s the most evil and disturbing song we’ve ever written!
Room 185:
Jack Torrance, the character played by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, has to be my favourite horror movie character of all time. That performance is what made me addicted to horror movies. I wanted to write a song about this movie as an homage to this masterpiece. When we started to work together on this song, we soon realized that this would be our heaviest composition to date, and we needed someone to help us express this emotion in order to be satisfied with our work. After doing some research, we approached Insurrection’s lead vocalist Stef Jomphe in an attempt to have his voice on the track, just to make it that much better! We were absolutely honoured and excited when he accepted the project and headed straight to the studio. This song hits you in a way that you have no choice but to headbang!
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS
1. Being huge fans of the 80’s rock era, Joel and Ste Vy once decided to kidnap me (Steve O Leff) to go see Steel Panther live in Quebec City, which was a 5-hour drive from where we live. We unfortunately missed the show since the place was sold out and we couldn’t get in. We ended up in a bar to see our friends from The Agonist perform and spend the night. Surprisingly, the guys from Steel Panther end up in the same bar and we told them about our little misfortune. We ended up partying with them all night, singing karaoke, and drinking tequila shots. One thing’s for sure, they certainly live up to their image!
2. All our music videos have references to popular movies. We also do all our special effects, costumes, and makeup for the video shoots. I also like to write a script beforehand to help everyone grasp the ideas behind every scene, that way we can really capture the emotions we’re trying to expose in the videos.
3. When we shot the video with Dark Moon Productions for our song “The State Of Nature”, we rented a Victorian-style reception space, located in a church basement in Ottawa. Everyone was dressed in Victorian gothic fashion, with vampire fangs, pale skin, and some blood. Joel built a super nice table for the human sacrifice scene, which was very bloody of course. Little did we know, a mass was taking place in the church above us and two priests came downstairs to ask us to lower the music. Let’s just say that when they came on set and saw all the blood and vampires everywhere, their faces were priceless!!!
4. As we did in our previous music videos, we always build our own props and video sets ourselves. Only, with the videos for this album, we decided to go big and build our own mechanical effects as well. After posting a few of our projects on social media, we started receiving demands to build props and special effects for other bands, which made us realize that we had something special to offer. We are now working on commercializing our creations to help out music video and even movie producers, while creating amazing professional relationships and perhaps making a living out of it.
5. JP Buzzard is quite the animal on stage! He really brings the spirit with his wicked long hair, leather pants, and signature moves. One of his moves is to throw his bass toward the crowd at the very end of our show but quickly grabs it back with his bass strap before it hits someone. But since not all stages are made for this beast, he once threw his bass right on a sprinkler head and everyone was going nuts… until we realized the sprinklers were deactivated. Talk about being lucky!
L-R – Ste Vy Leff (Lead Guitar), Steve O Leff (Vocals, Guitar), Joel Bilodeau (Drums), Jean-Pierre Proulx (Bass).
Photo Credits: Lisa Thompson of Dark Moon Productions
PEDAL TO THE FLOOR, MOTOR RUNNING HIGH
That’s how Rockin’ Engine rolls, full throttle, no compromise. Officially formed in 2018, they released their first self-produced album “Midnight Road Rage” which caught the attention of many hard rock and heavy metal enthusiasts throughout Europe and America. After joining forces with Dark Moon Productions to produce their first professional music videos, it was clear that this quartet’s path toward heavy metal eminence was only beginning. They later released a post-apocalypse concept EP, “The Wretched And The Damned”, that truly reflected the direction in which the band was heading. Their creativity, high-octane energy, and will to succeed, granted them a few honourable opening performing spots with Tony MacAlpine, Ross The Boss, Death Angel, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Switching things into high gear for 2023, Rockin’ Engine produced their very anticipated new EP “Altered By Evil” inspired by 80’s psycho horror, ready to be released this summer. They claim it is by far their best work yet and look forward to raising Hell wherever they set foot. If Gojira, Lamb Of God, and Rob Zombie made a baby, Rockin’ Engine would be their bastard son. Their fusion of Hard Rock and Thrash Metal will set fire to any stage and leave everyone with a bad case of whiplash.
Rockin’ Engine is:
Steve O Leff – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Ste Vy Leff – Lead Guitar
JP Buzzard – Bass
Joel Bilodeau – Drums/Vocals
Discography:
2023 – Altered By Evil
2020 – The Wretched And The Damned
2019 – Midnight Road Rage
Shared Stage with: Angelus Apatrida, Yngwie Malmsteen, Anvil, Death Angel, Exmortus, Hell Fire, Ross The Boss, Tony MacAlpine, Warrior Soul, Ghoulunatics, Fractures & Outlines, Cevilain, Colorsfade, Scepter, Lycanthro, Cynical Sons.
Tours and Festivals:
2019 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2018 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2017 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
2016 – Canadian Army Run, Ottawa.
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