Megosh to come to Rumba Cafe
Megosh, a five piece prog metal band from Baltimore, is set to roll through Columbus’ Rumba Cafe Dec. 9 ahead of the Dec. 16 release of their debut full-length album, “Apostasy” with Moon Tooth, Thank You Scientist and The Tea Club as supporting bands. Doors are at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can still be purchased online or at the door for $16.00.
Megosh distinguishes themselves by being one of the few rock bands that incorporate three part harmonies into their songs. Lead vocalist Josh Grosscup has a distinct range despite the inevitable comparisons to Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez. While his higher register can be likened to Sanchez’, he can also hit notes that take a song out of strict prog-metal territory and combine it with characteristics of alt metal, as in newest song, “Desperada”.
Grosscup’s lower register is where his range shines: it only adds more to the mystery and mythology progressive metal (and Megosh’s music) is formed around. The band’s bio fits with this as well: “forged from the bone-metal of ancient dragons, Megosh rises, and the gods tremble…” Megosh recently received a favorable review in Alternative Press and did an Instagram takeover with Substream Magazine. It’s hard not to see why as the band also displays a talent for infusing get-stuck-in-your-head melodies into their songs.
This tour has an interesting mix of personalities. Take Moon Tooth. Formed in 2012, their main profile picture when you search their name on Google is the four of their heads in a gallery type photo and a white light replacing the colors of each of their eyes. Lead singer John Carbone designs intricate artwork to go along with their albums, as he did for 2016’s “Chromaparagon”, and the band’s song titles range from things like “Goon” to “Offered Blood” to “Igneous” to “Queenwolf”. They also care about the next generation of musicians as they’re scheduled to perform and talk to children in the Rockville, New York, School of Rock, a music school with franchises scattered across the country.
Then there’s Thank You Scientist. One of Sanchez’ first signings to his label, Evil Ink Records. They released their most recent album, “Stranger Heads Prevail” through Evil Ink on July 29. Though lead singer Salvatore Marrano says “Prevail” is a personal record where he tries to keep positive despite a lot of the negativity going on in each of their lives, they still manage to keep a quirky sense of humor about them. They have an obsession with sweet potatoes as their genre on their Facebook page is listed as “post genre sweet potato polka” and their interests are listed as “sweet potatoes”. Their bio claims they’re a seven-headed monster, that their songs are about food and horses and that they have a “merch Jesus”. They also feature a saxophone, violin, and trumpet in their music, something uncommon in both metal and rock music in general.
Tim Giles, the producer who’s done albums for Thursday, Anthrax, Taking Back Sunday and Bear Vs. Shark, discovered The Tea Club in 2008. They’ve played the Prog Day Music Festival, the Philly Film and Music Festival and Quebec City’s Terra Incognita Festival. The band continues a trend that Coheed and Cambria started as they also have their own graphic novel series to go along with one of their albums. The six part series is called “Grappling”, which goes along with their 2015 release of the same name. The series goes more into the stories told in “Grappling”’s lyrics. They feature both a violin and a cello in their music and use their Facebook to post detailed, narrative tour diaries that occasionally include comic book references. They also have an odd sense of humor as some of their song titles include “Firebears”, “Wasp In A Wig” and “Dr. Abraham and Cool Smack”.
There’s only one more date of the tour, Dec. 10 in Chicago, so make sure you don’t miss what’s sure to be a show full of genre bending music and hints of off-the-beaten path humor.
For more information on Megosh or any of the other bands, please visit their respective websites.
