Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Unheard of on this side of the water, Knoxville-based metallers Straight Line Stitch have been on the stereo of Planet Loud for a while since we came across their raucous chaos in the depths of Myspace. Have already featured the band extensively on the site, it’s nice to get our hands on a copy of their new album and find that it’s lived up to our expectations.
Fronted by the harsh-vocalled Alexis Brown, the quintet are a brutal, tribal outfit who, on record, live up to everything their Myspace tracks hinted at. Their brutal, yet knee-scrapingly raw, sound could be compared to bands like Soulfly and Otep but that would just be pure lazy as the likes of the title track and Slow Asphyxiation rattle around inside your skull with their downtuned, rumbling heaviness. Alexis fills the airwaves with her guttural roar as the band mix up a sound that is part rock, part metal, part hardcore. It makes for an impressively rowdy listen and one that you know would simply rip it up when let loose in a live environment. For now though, we have to listen to their balls of steel metal through crappy speakers but, you know what, To Be Godlike still makes our balls tingle like Straight Line Stitch did the very first time we heard them.
While the chances of seeing Straight Line Stitch detonating their metal-bombs in clubs of the UK are very slim, Planet Loud will do their utmost to spread the word of Straight Line Stitch so long as they keep producing bone-crunching music of this quality. Head over to the official website for info on where you can pick up this CD. [Rating 8] - Planet Loud - by Graham Finney
Discography
To Be Godlike - 2006
Everything is Nothing By I T S E L F LP - 2003
The Barker - 2001 - 4 song EP
Jagermeister EP - 2005 - 5 EP
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The hard rock/metal act Straight Line Stitch, from Knoxville, TN, traces its current lineup back to 2003, where they produced such harsh, raw metal that they attracted now front-woman, Alexis Brown. Straight Line Stitchs success both regionally and nationally comes directly from their ability to stand out by doing things that no other rock/metal act is doing. Alexis not only takes on the responsibility of producing a full fledged metal vocal assault, but she fills the voids with softer, even upliftingly melodic singing that strikes a balance between more cerebral radio listeners, and the hard rock loving, blunt force audio assault junkies. Combined with Seth Thacker and Tim Chappell on guitars, Jason White on bass, and lightening fast drumming from Ian Shuirr, the band takes the crowd to a point of near riot, just as easily as they bring them back down to sing along to their favorite songs.
Straight Line Stitch released the full length album To Be Godlike in June 2006 which follows a demo EP and full length album, both created outside the current lineup. "To Be Godlike" has without a doubt had the most work put into it and it most accurately represents Straight Line Stitch as a band.
Since 2003, the bands schedule has included one thing: relentless touring in support of their albums. In their time together Straight Line Stitch have toured the nation, averaging 150-200 shows a year and have shared the stage with national touring acts such as: The Vans Warped Tour (Atlanta, GA 2005), various Jagermeister (a proud Straight Line Stitch sponsor) Music Tours, Killswitch Engage, Staind, Slayer, Chevelle, Anthrax, Mastodon, Dark New Day, Dry Kill Logic, Mushroomhead, Three Days Grace, Hurt, Skinlab, Earshot, Stuck Mojo, and more. The result: Maturity as a band, and a polished, tempered brand of metal, sharpened to a glimmering edge that they call their own.
In 2006, the band started the year with a regional tour and followed with a national Summer tour. After taking September off to write and record new material, Straight Line Stitch will shoot a music video with Raging Nation Films, who have worked with Trivium, Hatebreed, 36 Crazyfists, Il Nino, Darkest Hour and whose videos often are played on MTV 2s Head Bangers Ball. They will end the year with another national tour that will continue into 2007.
With the release of To Be Godlike, the bands fan base has spread nationwide and they average more daily music plays online than half the bands on the second stage at Ozzfest. People are starting to notice Straight Line Stitch, and they have the experience and maturity to reach the level they have thrived towards for years.
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