Because I’m an uncultured swine, when I think of Denmark I think about a rare European Championship victory for a small nation and bacon. I certainly wouldn’t be considering that the Scandinavians are also host to a tech metal band that I actually enjoy. For every ten Hey! Listen To X! that I post, more and more seem to be bands leaning towards the polished, technical end of the extreme music spectrum. Cold Night For Alligators are another one of these bands that surprised me. This bunch of musos have a tonne of experience under their belts already and are ready to burst through into the limelight of this particular scene. If there was ever a time to take that SikTh influence and run with it, now is the time.
Already veterans of the UK Tech Fest and having played festivals all over the place (India being the most out there stop I’ve seen in recent press contact), Cold Night For Alligator have left the djent thing behind and are now catering to fans of bands like Uneven Structure and, to a lesser extent, Vildhjarta. Their first single “Followers” is brutal in parts and quite frankly beautiful in others. The Steve Vai guitar noodling and clanky bass rhythms that precede the final hefty breakdown are pretty as all hell, as are the clean vocals that lift the fairly predictable chorus into the clouds of progressive metal heaven. Throw in some evil, choppy riffs that care little for the casual foot tapper and you can colour this particular music snob excited.
Cold Night For Alligators have a new video out next week and an album due out soon after. Their new lineup definitely has the band performing at a much higher level. If I’m not careful I’m going to end up a prog metal freak, casting aside my dirty, grind lifestyle in lieu of shimmering guitar tones and perfectly placed clean vocals; the kind that this band have in spades.
-MM