| HASTE |
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| INFO |
HOMETOWN: Alabama
MEMBERS:
Kelly Reaves - vocals (low),
Chris Mosley - vocals (high),
Jason Burns - guitars,
Nick Brunson - guitars,
Brandon Thrasher - bass,
Jeff Gardner - drums
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| BIOGRAPHY |
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Fans of Alabama sextet Haste, the technically proficient, guitar-driven hard rock outfit hailing from the festering region of Birmingham, will no doubt be blown-away by the band's third offering, The Mercury Lift. The album is the product of hard work and Haste's inevitable musical evolution, one that vocalist Chris Mosley says had been a long time coming. "It just seems like a natural progression - the same step we took from the first record to the second," Mosley explains. "There are a few songs on this record that have no real aggressive screaming and then there are others where that's all there is. It's a lot heavier than anything we've done. It kind of broadens the whole spectrum a little bit this time, more from one extreme to the other than kind of being up the middle, as we were in the past."
The band was formed in 1993 by Kelly Reaves, Jason Burns, Jeff Gardner and Brandon Thrasher. When Mosley entered the fold in late 1995, the band's unique dual vocal assault was born. Guitarist Nick Brunson joined a few years later - just in time to record their debut album - and with that, Haste was complete. After two previous releases, Pursuit In The Face of Consequence (1999) and When Reason Sleeps (2001), alongside tours with such notable genre heavyweights as Boy Sets Fire, Glassjaw, Hopesfall, Shai Hulud and Zao, in addition to monumental performances at the Furnace Festival, Hellfest and The New England Metalfest, the group steadily built a loyal fanbase. They also gained national recognition from having “Engine” added to the Road Rules Soundtrack, which led to the video receiving airplay on MTV2. The Mercury Lift, the band's third full-length release, finally takes hold of what the band has hinted at in the past. Fans both old and new will quickly see this album for what it is – a brilliant, emotional and captivating journey brought forth from the heart of a band that won't stand still.
On The Mercury Lift, Haste does much to illuminate the darkened corners where aggressive music and thoughtful melodies conspire. On one end of the spectrum, songs like "Revenge Tastes Like Blood and Broken Teeth" and "A God Reclaims His Thrown" (featuring Lamb of God vocalist D. Randall Blythe) assail the senses with thunderous screams that could raise the dead and make angels weep. The band also brings to the plate several tracks that display their patented hardcore-influenced rock ("The Death of Stars Like the Sun", "Room One Thirty Four") while finally, tracks like "Houdini Lost His Key" and "The Rescued" (featuring Codeseven vocalist Jeff Jenkins) unleash the band's ever-growing melodic brilliance and inter-weaving sonic textures.
Haste spreads its musical wings on this album. They've displayed brief hints of things to come on previous efforts, but nothing this dramatic. "Some of the songs on this record are much more melodic and in some ways, more mellow," Reaves states. "But other songs aren't - they're some of the heaviest material we've written. We go in moods. One person brings something in, and it clicks with everybody. The next thing you know, we're writing something really pretty. At other times, we're writing something that sounds totally pissed. We never sit down to write anything a certain way, not with the music, the vocals... anything. We just play and play until something sounds right and complete."
Haste creates cutting-edge rock that's utterly brilliant not only in its composition, but in its delivery. Hear it for yourself with The Mercury Lift and experience a true musical revolution.
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