Acclaimed Grammy-winning bassist, composer and bandleader Ben Williams’ newest album, I AM A MAN, is a sociopolitically charged project that strives to “show the world the complexity of our humanity as Black American men.” With help from producer and sound designer Brian Bender, the album boasts a humid and hazy sound that recalls neo-soul albums released by The Roots, Erykah Badu, Bilal, and D’Angelo. Williams sings lead on the majority of songs, in addition to playing the electric and acoustic bass. Joining him is an amazing lineup comprised of keyboardist Kris Bowers, guitarist David Rosenthal, tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland, percussionist Bendji Allonce, trumpeter Kenyon Harrold, flutist Anne Drummond, and drummers Jamire Williams and Justin Brown. The album’s title references the historic 1968 sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis.
The Eight Holocaust Hymns based on the Swedish Melodic Death / Melodic Black Metal sounds genealogy of cold and melodic. A powerful work packed with Beyond the Grave style while imitating the cold melodic sounds of the oldschools! Just a year ago, "Veneration of Corpses" had been unleashed and now Black Metal Maniacs are returning with the new masterpiece- "I am the Holocaust"!!!
The past decade has seen the birth and evolution of so many progressive rock bands that it can be more than a little challenging to keep track of them all. And let’s face it, at this stage in the game it isn’t easy to come up with a band name that hasn’t been taken already. But occasionally a name is able to strike a blend of originality and absurdity such that it also sticks in one’s head and stands out from the rest…