Commando - Hotel Essex - Song Review - Nu Rap Metal from San Francisco, California, USA
Today we are featuring a promising nu rap metal band, Commando, from San Francisco, California, USA, with, "Hotel Essex" the album opener from their self-titled debut album.
Watching Hotel Essex was the first time hearing about such an interesting band, Commando, a thematic project with quite an established musical blend and solid artistic vision. Although I don't necessarily listen to Nu Metal or Rap Metal myself, I had to give this band the credit they deserve.
First of all, Commando is a great example to see how a massive difference a charismatic frontman can make. I haven't seen such figure as Commando's vocalist, Juba Kalamka in the metal scene before, who can get this personal on stage which looks natural on him. He is quite a character who can get this band to the top level in this business.
Musically, I believe Commando has separated themselves from the rest of the world with their "traditional" sounding instrumentation. Cause most of the time, rap metal bands sound too rap or too modern metal nowadays, I prefer listening to Commando's style in this way. They also have a Ghost kinda theme which makes a powerful collective with a solid plan.
Lastly, Hotel Essex also stands out with its artistic vision. All those I mentioned above as the theme of the band idea was perfectly executed, even though the video gets ugly from time to time the viewer never loses the excitement until the last second.
On the other side of the coin, I feel like Commando's current production standards, both musically and visually, are way below their true potentials.
Lastly, I was a little bit confused when I read "gay nu metal band from California" on their Spotify bio, and realized that I never heard such a thing in music before. This makes perfect sense when it comes to the strategy of the band, they might become the first or the most popular in this specific genre. At the same time, you unintentionally think about classic bands like Kiss, who also acted similarly in their stage personalities but never really defined their music in this way. In my opinion, I'd rather guide people to focus on what's so special about Commando instead, cause they are in so many ways.
When I put all these into account, I'd like to say that I enjoyed listening to Commando - Hotel Essex. Solid plan, fascinating artistic vision, huge commercial value, and great potential.
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