The concept behind progressive metal’s latest and greatest super group started when guitarist Eric Gillette and keyboard player Diego Tejeida were touring the world with Mike Portnoy’s Shattered Fortress. But TEMIC didn’t unlock the full scope of their powers until they joined forces with the tender, piercing falsetto of Fredrik Klemp (Maraton) and high-flying, hard-hitting drummer Simen Sandnes.
Watch Simen stomp through an unedited playthrough of “Friendly Fire”: https://youtu.be/lUyi9DViHqc?si=Z1E0njL-dczzphRI
Like a true professional, Simen recorded this playthrough in one take with no samples. It’s no wonder then that The ProgSpace nominated him for drum performance of the year.
“Friendly Fire” is a sizzling instrumental off TEMIC’s debut album. The band are also nominated for best vocals, guitar, keyboard and debut full-length album of the year.
Vote for TEMIC: https://theprogspace.com/awards2023/
It’s no surprise that Simen Sandnes is so fleet of foot, either. After all, Simen did play soccer semi-professionally up until he was 16 years old. Once he reached high school though, the Norwegian prodigy spent most of his days locked inside his school’s rehearsal space. Now, two decades later, he’s endorsed by Zildjian and Mapex.
When he’s not crushing cymbals or somersaulting through fills, Simen splits his time drumming for blackjazz band SHINING and the prog. metal band Arkentype. He’s also played on an official World Cup song and the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack.
“Friendly Fire” isn’t just another tune”, Simen says. “It’s a testament to our musical journey and the relentless pursuit of pushing boundaries.
“My main goal for the song was to empower the driving melodies that Diego had created while adding my own signatures, such as a 135 bpm Hertas and some superimposed metric modulations—all while ensuring the song’s integrity. As always, I strive to bring genuine performance to the metal scene. This is a one-take recording, free from editing, quantization, fixing or samples. What you see and hear is exactly as I recorded it. The playthrough was recorded in my favorite studio, Top Floor Studios, with my all-time favorite engineer, Jakob Herrmann.”
The song’s drum transcription will be available for download on Simens’ website.
Terror Management Theory is out now.
Order: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/Temic
Stream: https://orcd.co/tmtpresave
Track list:
1. TMT (2:02)
2. Through the Sands of Time (7:00) [WATCH]
3. Falling Away (4:58) [WATCH]
4. Count Your Losses (6:13) [WATCH]
5. Skeletons (7:00)
6. Acts of Violence (5:52)
7. Friendly Fire (5:57)
8. Paradigm (6:33)
9. Once More (5:45)
10. Mothallah (7:27) [WATCH]
Total runtime: 58:54
Style: Prog-metal
For fans of: Dream Theater, Haken, Leprous, Devin Townsend, Tesseract, Periphery
Diego Tejeida and Eric Gillette’s vision for TEMIC wasn’t exactly simple: synthesize their love for high-energy electronica and flashy riffs into a killer prog-metal hybrid. But after recruiting former soccer prodigy-turned-Zildjian-endorsed drummer Simen Sandnes (SHINING, Arkentype) to go along with the high-powered falsetto of Fredrik Klemp (Maraton), together, the supergroup managed to connect all those puzzle pieces on their very first album.
“Musically, it falls somewhere between Leprous, Sleep Token, Haken, Dream Theater & Pain of Salvation…amazing stuff, insane playing, check it out if you haven’t already!” the one-and-only Mike Portnoy says about Terror Management Theory.
Terror Management Theory is perfect for busting out the air guitar. But now fans can also hit all the album’s high notes by downloading the song stems on Bandcamp. With these stems, budding musicians can learn the guitar, bass, drum and keyboard parts for all 10 songs. They can also be used by producers to remix prog anthems like “Count Your Losses” into thumping club bangers or a stripped-down yet soaring ballad.
Download stems: https://temic.bandcamp.com/album/tmt-stems
More praise for TEMIC and Terror Management Theory:
“As the progressive metal scene witnesses a surge of new talent, this [album] places TEMIC in the discussion of the top new band releases of 2023”, – The Prog Report.
“Bursting with ideas and extraordinary individual performances, it sounds like the work of a living, breathing band” – Blabbermouth
“…technical without being suffocating…For anyone already invested in the genre, there is nothing here to not like” – Sonic Perspectives
“…a lavish progressive metal debut that stands out sharply in the crowd” – Distorted Sound
TEMIC came together from across the globe, but they also share a wide variety of influences.
Check out their curated Spotify playlist, which features everyone from GoGo Penguin and Car Bomb to Infected Mushroom, Ólafur Arnalds and the Rocky soundtrack.
https://www.facebook.com/TEMICBAND
