Battalion

"We have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with so many great bands over the years and have become friends with most of them. It feels really good when the people you look up to go out of their way to tell you how great they think your band is, and that they believe in what you're doing."

popVLTR: You've been making moves in St. Louis, how'd you get into music? Clint Kesinger: When I was about 14 my sister brought me to my first local show, and after a few bands I thought "That's what I wanna do!" My dad gave me his old guitar a year later and I was immediately hooked. Day in and day out, music has been my main focus ever since. Our bassist Shad and I were both raised in rural Greene County, Illinois and got into heavy music together through mutual friends. The midwest features a large and proud underground metal/hardcore scene, so it felt natural for us to play heavy music. Looking back, Id say we got pretty addicted to the energy of the intense crowd responses we received early on. We're now based out of St. Louis after 4 years of playing countless local shows, several line up changes, and as much touring as we could possibly manage on our own. Moving down here was a strategic move for the band. We wanted more shows in the area and to expand into the fertile scene St. Louis has, both for potential members, and its potential for a strong music community. Its been a long process but we are starting to play the venues and shows we want with better turnouts and crowd responses than we could have ever asked for. Things are really starting to heat up!

popVLTR: Congrats on 'Resilience', who are some of your influences? CK: Thank you! The influences for 'Resilience' and our writing style/sound come from Bands like The Acacia Strain, Recon, Slipknot, Messhuggah, Desolated, Bury Your Dead, Bermuda, Demolisher, The Ghost Inside, and basically anything that is ridiculously heavy for the sake of heavy music. However, we are all very open minded about music and we listen to a large variety of genres.

popVLTR: What are some of your proudest moments in music so far? CK: Being able to share the stage with bands we look up to is the first thing that comes to mind. We have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with so many great bands over the years and have become friends with most of them. It feels really good when the people you look up to go out of their way to tell you how great they think your band is, and that they believe in what you're doing. Another moment was on tour in rural Indiana after releasing the early demo of "Heartland". When the first chant dropped in, a group of kids jumped, grabbed the mic, and knew the lyrics already, after only being out for a week. That let us know we were doing something right! Getting signed to Artist Collective was also a milestone for the band. We finally have a good company working for us because they wanna see us go places. Hard work does pay off!

popVLTR: What cool stuff is on the horizon for Battalion? CK: We are currently playing shows promoting the release of 'Resilience', and are saving up to hit the road again as soon as possible to make that a national effort. Its been a long road but I've never been more excited for this band and what we have in store. With this momentum we will be able to finally play states we haven't been to so we can personally meet and thank everyone for their amazing support! New material and concepts for the next release are starting to form, and we will be keeping everyone on their toes this year with a lot of exciting steps we are taking. - Pop Vulture Magazine

The uplifting St. Louis Metal artist Battalion really does not disappoint with their sophomore release. It is the follow up to 2009's "Seasons" by them. "Resilience" was recorded in the fall of 2012 at The Nook Recording Studio in New Lenox, IL with studio engineer Nick Nativo (Oceano, Monsters). I saw them live this past year at Fubar and enjoyed their set. Vocalists Clint Kesinger and Jamey Kroesen bring it and duel throughout the entire effort. Then you have Josh Masten on guitar, Shad Baldes on the bass and Justin Bess on drums. Initially, they were from rural Green County, Illinois. After some time, they decided to move to St. Louis and get more exposure. Battalion is scheduled for an exclusive interview to be featured on The Black Sheep Radio Show (88.3FM, www.wqna.org) in Spring?eld, Illinois later this month. Battalion has been asked to perform, fellow St. Louis local, Tear Out The Heart's (Victory Record's) album release show on March 22nd at "The Mad Magician" in St. Louis. Tear Out The Heart is an aggressive and catchy metal-core band which signed to Victory Records in August of 2012. Below is a quick review of the album by Battalion, followed by a free download of one of their new songs. Note that the album can be purchased on Itunes and ordered on CD Baby through the band's facebook page, which is linked at the top of this paragraph.

The first track "Chump Change" starts out with a short, but powerful introduction to the new eight-song effort by Battalion called, "Resilience". The second song, "Semper Fi" shows off elements that the listener will discover throughout the album, as a whole. Time signature changes, sweet grooves and original sounding builds. It ends with silence, followed by an echo that is reverberated a few times which then brings the listener to the next song. The guitar work on "Riot Control" is real cool. The drummer really sets the pace with this one. I also liked the atmosphere on the bridge of this song too. An excellent choice for track three and this one really stood out to me.

On "Thieves" the listener finds out just how brutal these guy's sound is. A polyphonic symphony for the metal-head heading out to war, so to speak. "Heartland" has a particularly upbeat groove with some interesting time signature changes. On the bridge, there is a guitar effect that really makes the song hit home and also the vocals seem to be chanted by their vocalists as the reverb added to their tracks give this part a different feel. Thus proving that these guys are a threat from the heartland. "Armistice" is an instrumental song with a nice delay on the guitar and a clean tone. The drummer paces the timing out with some snare beats. The bass plays a low melody to fill it out further. Appropriately, timed out too. Which then brings us to the title track.

"Resilience" is a rousing number. Quickly I figured out why. This is an anthem. Not just for the listener, but for the group itself. At the end of the song, the lyrics state the following,"Take a look at where you are, Where you've been, and where you're going. You only have one life, achievement sustained through believing in myself. Tighten the grasp on what is dear to you, We are at the top of the bottom, we are a band of brothers standing resilient." The back ground vocals stand out well with the effect that is chosen as the last two lines of the lyrics above are repeated a few times as the song plays out. "The Maniac" is the final song and just leaves you wanting more. This one is merely unpredictable and the changes come out of nowhere throughout, whether it be the drums, the guitar or the vocals. - Saint Louis Musicians Unite Music Blog