It’s hard not to get excited when you can actually hear an artist evolve over the course of their career or even better when it’s over a series of songs released within a fairly short amount of time. Which is the case when talking about New England’s own Otto Kinzel and his latest sonic soliloquy, “Radium Light”.
Previously you had a Nine Inch Nails cover, a positively macabre track for a short film, and a track that was a Goth/Black Metal delight. With “Radium Light”, the Dust Prophet guitarist ventures into the mid-’90’s and a time where your most favorite Thrash artists were really experimenting with mid-tempo ballads of a sinister nature. Anthrax’s “Black Lodge”, Pantera’s “Cemetery Gates”, and Slayer’s “Seasons In The Abyss” all come to mind sans the super shredding.
Kinzel continues to excite with his vocal style which here fluctuates between broad, haunting passages to strong Hetfield-style commanding growls to anguished screams (His closing cries of “We stand on the edge!” amidst acoustic guitars and distorted synths are especially chill inducing). Musical partner-in-crime Sarah Wappler (Dust Prophet) also returns to add the low end and synth flourishes that positively enrapture listeners as this burgeoning, brooding six minute adventure into dark sonic terrain rolls on.
Put it this way: Remember Strangeland about fictional serial killer Captain Howdy played by Dee Snider and the equally killer soundtrack featuring Coal Chamber, Bile, and Marilyn Manson among others? “Radium Light” would fit perfectly on there.
“Radium Light” is out now and available by clicking here. For more on Kinzel, follow the trail of socials by clicking here, here, or here.