- Bryon Harris
Retched – ‘The Pharaohs Curse'
Retched (pronounced Recht’) is the creative monkier of Thrash Metal solo artist David A. DerMinasian. Retched’s latest release called "The Overlord Messiah" was resurrected from the past (1988) and re-released worldwide in February 2019 on all major digital platforms. The sound favors Old School - Traditional Metal aka True Metal. Influences of the True Metal sound include icons such as Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. “The Overlord Messiash” was picked up by Alone Records from Greece and made available in CD and Vinyl formats. From the album comes “The Pharaohs Curse" a major metal work that will
“The Pharoah’s curse” opens with the forbidding, larger than life sound of a war storm in the distance. Suddenly, large stoic distorted chords and searing heavy metal guitar in an upper register hammer the downbeat like a heavy march pounding forward in small intervals interrupted by hollow gong like sounds between riffs. This second time the riff is repeated with slightly more dissonance indicating things are about to get heavy. The entire opening sounds like a battle call. A haunting distant chantlike sound is suddenly heard.
Retched enters the intense and foreboding mix with a restrained vocal scream made for metal complete with octave jumping from a lower distorted growl zone to an upper register. The track now features fast, dotted power-chord muting with short crisp riffs between the vocal phrases. The chorus grabs hold of you: “Pharaoh’s curse to burn in hell. To find the key a satanic temptress. Feel the curse to drive you mad. To hunt you down across the sand.” This is music that takes you into another world.
About two minutes into the track, Retched takes off on solo guitar played in blistering rapid eighth notes for a high energy lead that cascades and descends in layers for an exciting ride meant to transport you. The solo comes crashing down as the lyrics begin agai, a great compositional effect.
The lyrics revolve around a fictional character, a warlord who goes up against an evil ruler to save his land and people from immense suffering. There is a curse upon the tomb of the ancient pharaoh for anyone who disturbs it. Ardent fans of True Metal with its guitar driven sound will be pleased to enter the world of Retched where they will find a storm of old-school and a captivating dark and vivid tale told with musical intensity - vocally, lyrically, and in it's gutiar composition.
For more information, visit Retched's website.