ERRA

Another big upcoming band I want to talk abut that already has a bit of a following thanks to their experience is progressive metalcore act from Birmingham, Alabama known as ERRA. After a few lineup changes over the years, ERRA currently consists of Alex Ballew - drums (far left), J.T. Cavey - vocals (left center), Sean Price - rhythm guitar, and bass (back right), and Jesse Cash - lead guitar, bass, and clean vocals (right center). The name of the band refers to the Akkadian god of war and plague, and a lot of the lyrical themes in their earlier stuff really had to deal with mythology. Their latest album steered away from this theme but instead tackled other issues such as life on the road as a touring band, the process of drifting out of reality as an escape from the world in the form of things like music, etc. ERRA has released 3 EPs and 3 full lengths since 2010. Their first 2 EPs released in 2010 and were both self released, their next 2 albums, Impulse, and Augment, came out in 2011 and 2013 respectively, their next EP, Moments of Clarity came out in 2014, and then their latest album, Drift, came out in 2016. So as you can see they've been a very busy band in their 7 years of activity. Despite being around for this long though, they only have about 150,000 likes on Facebook and their most popular music video has a little under 900,000 views. So they're in about the same boat as Silent Planet where a lot of people know of their existence, but they still haven't had very many headlining tours unfortunately.

Nevertheless, don't let this make you sleep on them because they are excellent song writers with some of the heaviest yet beautiful music I've ever heard. Not to mention Jesse Cash has some of the most beautiful clean vocals I've ever heard. J.T. has great vocals too and it's worth mentioning he's only been with these guys since Drift and before he was with one other band for a short time so this guy has got a bright future with this band. The vocals with these two is an excellent combination and I can't wait to hear more from these guys in the future! Their style of music is one of the best examples of progressive metal, their use of an atmospheric and ambient sound is a key progressive metal element and it really makes for some of the best night time or rainy day music. And this sound has progressed ever since Jesse started using a 7 string guitar as opposed to a 6 string for Drift and Sean has been rocking a 7 string as well ever since Moments of Clarity.

While their older stuff before the addition of J.T. is a bit heavier, Drift is still one heavy album it just seems to focus more on their melodic sound, and Jesse's voice has really matured through the years if you listen to each album, which I highly encourage you do because there is no such thing as a bad ERRA album. These guys are definitely heading in the right direction, they always have been but expect great things from these guys in the future! They've got the perfect music to both bang your head to or just close your eyes and escape in the cool melodic music, whichever you're feeling! On a parting note, ERRA is another band that I've had the pleasure of seeing play in Lawrence and although they were one of the openers and only played 5 songs, it was still an amazing experience and I highly encourage you to check them out live if given the chance! And yes Jesse's voice really does sound just as amazing live as recorded if that helps the encouragement!

Hybrid Earth from their album Augment is their most viewed music video on YouTube and is an excellent example of what this band is about and shows off former vocalist, Garrison Lee. If you aren't a big fan of this music, skip to 2:47 for the best guitar solo you will ever hear in your life, trust me!

And here's Luminesce, which was the first single from their latest album Drift and gives you an example of what they sound like with current vocalist J.T.