The ConfessionScience Records

Call it natural selection, but in an era where so many of rock?s ambassadors have become faceless nice guys with nothing to say, it?s time a new breed of band rose up to restore some of the real danger, fire and energy to rock & roll. With their Science Records debut album, Requiem, California quintet the Confession have loudly jumped to the front of that new breed, and they?re here to recruit anyone else who?s up for the big takeover. Produced by Avenged Sevenfold frontman and longtime band friend M. Shadows, Requiem delivers a much-needed adrenaline plunger to rock?s flagging heart, its 11 tunes packed with blistering twin-guitar harmonies, watch-precise bass and kick-pedal action, and some of the most badass vocal chops in contemporary rock & roll. Songs such as ?Jealousy,? ?Dance With the Devil? and the whiplash-inducing first single, ?Burn the Virgin,? showcase the Orange County quintet?s union of European thrash-metal ferocity and Sunset Strip-style hard-rock swagger, while others?such as the lush, acoustic-guitar-driven title track?prove the Confession are as diverse as they are fluid. Never mind that the band members count Velvet Revolver, the Doors, In Flames and Children of Bodom as equal inspirations: When these influences collide throughout Requiem, the effect is as seamless as it is distinctive. That Requiem also marks the Confession?s first time in a ?real? studio setting (the band?s only other release to date is a hastily recorded self-titled 2005 EP) suggests that lesser groups should consider the bar sufficiently raised. In retrospect, it?s not surprising that the Confession?s musical formula gelled so quickly. Formed in 2005, while most of the members were still in high school; signed before they?d even had a chance to cut their teeth on the road; and immediately afterward thrown into the fire of national touring (via well-received 2006 stints on both Taste of Chaos and Warped Tour), the quintet didn?t have any other choice but to gel. ?Looking back, it?s amazing that we held it together during that time,? drummer Jeff Veta says of the band?s whirlwind ascent. ?I?ll be the first one to admit that we made mistakes?we partied too hard, spent too much money, made a lot of decisions we shouldn?t have?but we also learned from that time, and we?re 1,000 times stronger a band now because of it.? That strength shines through on Requiem, with the band?s musicianship, and frontman Taylor Holland Armstrong?s singing in particular, taking a monster leap forward from the 2005 EP?s screamier, scrappier roots. Veta tears through the rhythms with punch-press ferocity; former guitarist Matt Pauling proves himself just as virtuosic on bass; and the guitar team of Kevin Fyfe and Justin Norman shreds in tandem with Iron Maiden-like finesse. However, as Armstrong freely admits, the rougher side of the band?s experience also colors Requiem?particularly when you look at his lyrics. ?We?re a band that likes to party, but there were times where I personally took it too far,? he says, ?and so a lot of these songs are my way of crawling back out from the holes I dug for myself.? Of course, it also didn?t hurt the band to have an ally like M. Shadows in their corner. An intensely focused taskmaster, Shadows provided a constant source of focus as the Confession tracked Requiem in studios throughout the L.A. area. ?He really helped us tap into our strengths on this album,? Armstrong explains. ?Avenged was the first big band we ever went out on tour with, and he?s always been looking out for us; I think he sees a lot of the same things missing from rock today that we do. Vocally, too, he?s just at a whole other level; he really pushed me to push myself while we were recording.? Suffice it to say it?ll be a whole new Confession fans see on this summer?s Warped Tour?where the former Smartpunk Stage upstarts, fresh off a spring 2006 tour with U.K. post-thrash crew Bullet for My Valentine, have now graduated to the higher-profile Hurley Stage?but like everything else in the band?s world these days, the venues are about to get a whole lot bigger. ?You can?t look out at the rock landscape and say we sound like anyone else,? Veta concludes. ?We play this music 100 percent for ourselves; it?s hard to say that about many rock bands today. Obviously, we want people to be into it, but we?re not gonna compromise who we are to convince them. Rock & roll should be bigger than life, and we?re here to make sure it stays that way.? THE CONFESSION Taylor Holland Armstrong: Vocals Kevin Fyfe: Guitar Justin Norman: Guitar Matt Pauling: Bass Jeff Veta: Drums THE CONFESSION - Requiem 6.19.2007

Links

• www.myspace.com/theconfession