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Album Reviews : Superheist – Sidewinder

By on May 3, 2019

A ‘Sidewinder’ is a highly poisonous type of snake, found mostly in North America. A Sidewinder is also a type of air to air missile. So Sidewinder is a highly appropriate title for the new release from legendary Melbourne groove metal outfit Superheist. This album veritably explodes and explodes with a venom that stings.

The band themselves have said that this album is everything you’ve come to know and love about Superheist, multiplied tenfold, and it’s no idle boast. The grooves are even fatter, the guitars even heavier, the catchy parts are even more rousingly anthemic and the hip-hop moments are even more, well, hip-hoppy.

At the same time, they’ve also broken some ground, done some stuff they’ve never done before in their career. The female vocals on Shockwaves are sexy, sultry, powerful and, I think, unprecedented on a Superheist record. And the guest appearances don’t end there. Dana Roskvist, former frontman and rhythm guitarist of the gone but far from forgotten Melbourne alterna-metal monolith Sydonia takes centre stage on the very poppy but driving And So We Burn, another track, unlike anything this band has ever done before. It’s an anomaly, but sits beautifully in the context of the record anyway.

Good to hear mighty frontman Ezekiel Ox giving an angry musical/verbal bitchslap to convicted kiddie fiddler Cardinal George Pell on rampant closer God Knows. His highly varied and exuberant vocal delivery is in fine fettle overall here too.

Superheist has fashioned a fine collection of aggressively bouncy fist-pumping anthems here. Sidewinder is an excellent addition to the ‘Heist canon, and well worth a few of your hard-earned.

Band: Superheist
Album: Sidewinder
Year: 2019
Genre: Groove metal
Label: Black Mountain Music
Origin: Australia

About

Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.