Stormlight

What started out as a group of friends in a music program who decided to get together to play Dungeon and Dragons, turned out later (through a series of jam sessions) as Stormlight. This quartet from La Verne, California, consisting of: Christopher Estrada-Snyder (vocals/lead guitar), Robert Ramos (rhythm guitar), Matthew Tang (bass) and Joey Moller (drums) released their first EP Colorblind at the end of last year. The album was recorded and mixed in the guitarist’s garage and mastered at Townsend Mastering. The band describes their recording as ‘weird’ and offers up a wide range of styles and influences. Some of those influences come from progressive rock groups such as Rush, Deep Purple and Yes, while at other times things get a little metal, punk, alternative and experimental.

​“Roxy Roller” starts off with some old school punk/surfer meeting up with the style of, what I would call, ‘intellectual alternative’ and some new wave thrown in for good measure. This tune is a real good icebreaker that introduces the band very well. After the three-minute mark, a guitar solo breaks in kind of trippy, but not like the stereotypical hippie-trippy stuff of the ‘60s. The backing vocals add fullness to this song too, and a fantastic guitar lick finishes it off.

The title track “Colorblind” sounds more recent like some of the bands from the early 2000s – post-grunge you might say – ok, maybe that’s not so recent anymore. The singer, who I assume is Estrada-Snyder, sounds a little Neil Young (his way younger years) and that dude from Semisonic, but, not nearly as whiney. There’s a gorgeous mix of clean, bright guitar with a harmonious ‘fuzz’ melody that I can only equate to Thin Lizzy’s version of “Whiskey in the Jar.” The ending grinds hard making for a very cool finish.

“Chess” starts off steady and quiet and lyrically. It goes deeper and darker then the first two tracks. It also has the darker elements of a grunge song without sounding like a grunge song. The last two songs, “Intangible” and “Head Wide Open” in my opinion, really show off Stormlight’s strengths. There’s a lot going on and with each song well over the usual pop song duration, I had to listen to them both a few times – not that I didn’t mind, I love progressive rock.

“Intangible” without a doubt blew me away within the first 30 seconds. Musically, it’s progressive mixed with metal and lyrically, (the way the words are sung, the timing with the beat and what they are about); I swear I was hearing something Ian Curtis could of wrote – “Wish I could hide from the monster I know well.” Overall, the song is well put together – the different stages, the beat of the snare on the verses, I could go on.

On “Head Wide Open” the melody and notes sound more upbeat and positive and the backing harmonies are fabulous, which again, is a strong attribute to this band. Towards the middle, there’s this crazy good prog-rock ditty a la Rush or Yes and a fantastic guitar solo after five minutes or so, and then… damn, it was over. It’s one of those songs I wish would have went on for a couple of more minutes. Colorblind is a strong first effort by these prog-rock-metal maestros; it’s tight and ambitious and I hope to hear more soon. - Divide and Conquer