Ron Gallo - Heavy Meta (2017) [Official Digital Download]

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Ron Gallo - Heavy Meta (2017) [Official Digital Download]

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Ron Gallo - Heavy Meta (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time - 39:22 minutes | 464 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

A few words from Ron Gallo:
Heavy Meta is 11 tracks of lyrical confrontation and laughter for cynics laid down roughly on a bed of fuzz, chaotic structures and primal sounds evoked from a red Fender jaguar electric guitar - there is bass, there are drums and not much else besides the occasional icing (no artificial colors or dyes). It’s not comfortable and easily pinpointed and I’m sure that will create an issue for the desire for neat little boxes we have grown to love. I still don’t know what I’m doing and I plan on keeping it that way. Besides a couple of years of emotional and mental turmoil, loss, confusion, breakdown and internal growth what did all of that ever get me? Well, it gave me this record called “HEAVY META” and it is the first few findings from my guerilla treasure hunt for bullshit, both outside and within. Ethos meets pathos. The only thing I do know is that I want to use music to reflect the times and as a primary outlet for me to become a total psychopath on stage, challenge myself and talk about potentially heavy real world things, call you out, then maybe we can even hug after the show. I am forever grateful for this life and anyone that ever comes to a show, buys a record and wants to have a real conversation. I have no idea where things are going, but I know it’s best to grow with them and be okay with whatever happens. As for right now, it seems like a great time to wake up, put all of ourselves into it, acknowledge our own personal limitless value and beauty and if I can be any part in that, well then, awesome. Just the existence of a biography in someway makes it seem like my life is more interesting than your life - far from the truth. I am more interested in you, and how do we connect that to the WE; that is the reason why I put this stuff out there.

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Ron Gallo - Heavy Meta (2017) [Official Digital Download]

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Ron Gallo spent close to a decade exploring the boundaries of his blues, country, and roots rock influences with his band Toy Soldiers, but when he jumped ship to go solo, he left all of that behind. At least that’s the very strong impression given by Gallo’s second solo album, 2017’s Heavy Meta. Gallo’s first solo effort, 2014’s Ronny, was a step away from Toy Soldiers’ sound into a brighter and poppier direction, but with Heavy Meta, he’s done an about-face into raw, wiry, guitar-based rock & roll. Backed by bassist Joe Bisirri and drummer Dylan Sevey, Heavy Meta is a gritty, energetic exercise in punk-informed 21st century garage rock, with Gallo’s buzzy, rough and ready guitar figures and high-attitude vocals front and center in the mix at all times. Even the relatively subdued numbers like “Black Market Eyes,” “Started a War,” and “All the Punks Are Domesticated” are sharp-witted and lyrically cutting (especially the latter, a bitter tirade against the cultural abuses of contemporary thirty-somethings). And when Gallo and his bandmates shift into high gear on “Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me,” “Please Yourself,” and “Put the Kids to Bed,” the fusion of Gallo’s dirty but melodic melodies and waves of lyrical swagger suggests how Bob Dylan might have ended up if his primal influence had been Black Francis instead of Woody Guthrie. And chances are slim anyone will release a better song in the foreseeable future about bad parenting than the ferocious “Why Do You Have Kids?” Gallo’s songwriting is Heavy Meta’s greatest strength, but the production by Gallo and Bisirri is excellent, documenting the performances with force and clarity but retaining just the right amount of rough-edged texture to keep this music tough and effective. Heavy Meta is the sound of Ron Gallo reinventing himself, and he does it so well that one could view his impressive body of work with Toy Soldiers simply as a warm-up; this is tough, smart, impassioned rock & roll with a sense of purpose and lots of swagger, performed with the confidence of a veteran and the scrap of a newcomer. It’s heady stuff well worth your attention.