COMMANDO Releases First Full Album

courtesy of The Living Earth Show

In 2016 The Living Earth Show (TLES) envisaged a project called COMMANDO, which basically involved a collective that fused metal, rap, punk, spoken word, and rock to provide backup for some of the most heroic queer vocalists in California. The launch was marked on February 23 of that year with the release of a three-track EP on which TLES performed with CHRISTEENE, Krylon Superstar, Big Dipper, and Van Jackson-Weaver. A little over a month ago, the first full-length album, entitled simply COMMANDO, was released through Bandcamp.

As the Bandcamp page states, the album consists of “fourteen tracks of shredding, screaming, blazing bars over boom-bapping beats, with bombastic, melodic, explosive, queerific nü metal, punk, hardcore, spoken weird and more.” It is only fair to say that this offering will probably be too far over the top for those following the usual fare of reports on new recordings. The usual percussion-guitar duo has been expanded to include a bass (Van Jackson-Weaver). All of the tracks are vocals; and the participating vocalists are Juba Kalamka, Lynnee Breedlove, Drew Arriola-Sands, Krylong Superstar, and Honey Mahogany. The album was produced by Andrews at The DEN.

This album is decidedly not for everyone. (I’m not even sure if it is for me.) However, for those interested in what happens when a synthesis of music and social conditions reaches critical mass, COMMANDO is definitely the real deal.