If you don’t know who is Sam Fishman, let me introduce him in two words, dedication and perfection! I had the chance to know about his music and his phenomenal talent back in 2018 through his progressive masterpiece, End of Time, as I considered as of the best progressive albums that Rock Era received that year. Fishman strikes again with another creepy critter rock opera, Cicada Madness!
“Sorority girls, frat bros, rednecks, and cowboys all fight for survival during an infestation of giant flesh-eating cicadas.” When you get the project press back you will find this as a preface for the music theme of this stunning project. First, you should know that this is a soundtrack album for the one-hour audio drama which tells the story of “a sleepy West Virginia backwater, where human-induced environmental degradation has forced oblivious Roadtrippers, hick hunters, and frat bros to contend with giant mutant cicadas and their insatiable appetite for human flesh.” – Sam Fishman explained.
In my opinion, Sam’s music characterized by its well-made implementation, FYI, he took a whole year of preparation for this project. The soundtracks are instrumentals and songs with a rock opera theme, the opening instrumental, as well as the Frat Party, are delivering a unique atmosphere, and for tracks like ‘Your Greatest Fear’ and ‘Emergence’ I loved the beauty of the emotive vocals, tight rhythm, and Emergence solo is iconic especially when you feel the orchestral background!
Getting harder with raw hard-rock riffs in Launch Intro Madness and it’s a magical merge between 70s rock sound with early 2000’s vocals. Can you believe it? Extraordinary! Cicada Madness!’s concept as Fishman stated ” acknowledging your own fears, embracing your own insanities, and killer cicadas seeking to annihilate the human race from planet earth! (Mainly because humans have been destroying the planet).” and presented by the fictional rock band “Scorching Mantis.”
The album has been recorded by professional musicians and they are Alex Goldenthal (guitar and bass), Ryan Acquaotta (vocals), Sam Fishman (drums and vocals), Chandler Mogel (vocals on “Launch into Madness”), Mara Lisenko (background vocals on VR Song and Cicada Madness!). Music has been recorded and mixed by Shane Stanton at Architekt Music studios in Butler, NJ. Feel the fear here.
