United is the latest EP from Rainwound, the band masterminded by SoT's very own Brandon Strader, and it contains 4 songs clocking in just over 30 minutes in length. Rainwound deliver a metallic form of progressive rock, complete with crunchy riffs, spacey keyboards, melodic, often times haunting vocals, and tasty guitar solos. The EP kicks off with a quick guitar take on the "Star Spangled Banner", before launching into the quite melodic "Brothers", an enjoyable mix of metal guitars and soaring progressive rock. Strader then takes Rainwound into epic prog territory on the 20-minute title track. This one features sizzling guitar solos, 70's styled keyboard flourishes, and Porcupine Tree influenced vocals. There's a great instrumental section in the middle where things go from a jazzy lead guitar solo accompanied by acoustic guitar & keys to a wild funk 'n' prog workout with some nasty wah-wah rock guitars and stabbing synth lines. "Forever" closes United out in majestic fashion, a somber little prog number with soothing keys, floating vocals, and tasty, distorted guitar solos. The song builds and builds to a more bombastic & heavy conclusion, and features a great synth solo to finish things out amidst some crushing riffs.
Good stuff here from Rainwound, and easy to recommend if you like melodic progressive rock with some heavy riffs tossed in.
Track Listing
1.
Star Spangled Banner
01:33
2.
Brothers
06:43
3.
United
20:02
4.
Forever
05:24