WHY SHOULD I - Turn It Off

After undertaking a massive move from the San Francisco Bay Area to Central Ohio in 2021, guitarist Mark Lamb - best known for his work with Acid King and Scorched Earth Policy - started jamming with his old friend, drummer Scott Sprague. The two had played together in thrash band Die Hard decades previously so it was no surprise when the occasional jams slowly became a full-blown album project. That project became WHY SHOULD I, an instrumental band that draws on progressive metal, thrash metal, sludge metal, soundtracks and the experiences of two men who have spent their lives immersed in music. Modelled on the structure of the classic, eight track heavy metal albums - the likes of Heaven and Hell, The Number Of The Beast, Ride The Lightning, some of the greatest albums ever made - and based upon a shared belief that the best metal music is born from 'riffs and beats', the first WHY SHOULD I album is now complete. Turn It Off is armed with more great riffs than any album has the right to possess and comes with a clear and simple message…

“Shut out all the noise we're constantly bombarded with and listen to your own voice. Get back to the silence. Get back to the garden, back to the garage, the studio, back to yourself…create more, consume less.”

The weight, heft and power of Turn It Off hits you as soon as opening track '21st Century Dullard' roars into life - it's simply colossal! But what keeps you wired into what WHY SHOULD I are all about is the way the track evolves; reaching out and reshaping itself, a vibrant, vital, living thing. You realise that the lack of vocals isn't a lack at all - it's just room for the riffs to breathe, for the insistent rhythms to take centre stage. All the hooks are here and they're just as memorable as you could hope for, without the clutter of words. These songs were brewed in a basement and the excitement that Lamb and Sprague must have felt when they started to take shape is palpable in every one. Close your eyes and you're there, riding the riffs of 'You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wrong' with them; the crests, the depths, feeling the rush, the hypnotic drive. There's not a track here that doesn't hit the mark - from the brilliant leads, layers of enveloping guitars and space travel vibe of 'Intensities In Tent Cities' to the pulsing energy and exhilaration of the hard rocking 'Creatures And Their Weaponry'. There's a sense that these songs have a lot to say…but instead of telling you their story, they tell you a story, one which, as you listen, becomes your own. By the time you've lost yourself in the vastness of 'The Hell You Say' you'll have realised that not only is every note of this album imbued with a resonating power, but every space between those notes as well. When you finally tumble out of the flow, this current of riffs and grooves, the only thing to do is dive straight back in.

Recorded in Lamb and Sprague's basements, then mixed at Trident Studios by Juan Urteaga (Exodus, Geoff Tate, Testament etc) Turn It Off sounds incredible - organic, gritty, atmospheric and real. You can hear the muscle behind the drumbeats, the hum of the amps, the sweat on the strings. With cover and logo created by Ohio artist Steven Fisher, whose goal is “a vibrant rebellion against the sterile, commercially driven machinery of the established art market”, Turn It Off is perfectly complete. Look for its release on October 30th.

WHY SHOULD I Links »