#2 – Cormorant – Metazoa

One might describe Cormorant as the Bay Area’s “foggy” Opeth. Like their Swedish counterparts, their song writing is epic and varied in acoustic and electric melodies. Their sound is a blend of prog metal, black metal and folk metal, which is melancholy at times and galloping at other times. Metazoa has caught the attention of quite a few places around the web, including some of you out there who have been emailing us and saying, “Check this album out!”

Like the album’s cover art, the lyrics in Metazoa are rich and detailed, painting a bigger picture of the music as a whole. The album’s sound, while coming off as a bit under-produced at times, has quite an impressive background:

Recorded and mixed in January 2009 at Sharkbite Studios by legendary producer Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Mr. Bungle, Eyehategod, Melvins, Sleep, Primordial) and mastered by Justin Weis (Slough Feg, Brocas Helm, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Hammers of Misfortune, Ludicra) at Trakworx Studios, Metazoa sees the band fully come into their own as one of the most creative, innovative heavy metal groups of the new century.

Utilizing stringed instruments, synths and effects; there really are a whole range of influences at play in this album. Like HRC says, “Anyone who can make prog death metal with folk metal and classic rock riffs hidden in there along with some female vocals deserves some kind of award for creativity alone!”

Metazoa is available from Saturine Media in streaming format on metalsucks.net, or from the band’s webstore. Look for Cormorant to be playing shows around the Bay Area in 2010.

Only one spot left in our list! Come back tomorrow to see the band we dubbed the Loudest from the Bay!