Once Human - The Life I Remember

If you dig the death metal growl of Lauren Hart, her new band is right up your alley, mate.There are plenty of women in metal these days - nowhere as many as there are men, of course, but a lot. There are even women in the death metal scene, like the now-retired Angela Gossow and her replacement Alissa White-Gluz, but rarely does a newcomer happen along that causes a guy like Logan Mader (Machine Head, Soulfly) to come out of semi-retirement to play live music again. Content with just producing albums for the likes of Five Finger Death Punch, Devildriver, W.A.S.P., Fear Factory, and Gojira, he came upon a short guitar demo video by an unknown singer and multi-instrumentalist named Lauren Hart. Next thing you know he's playing in the newly formed Once Human, whose debut album, The Life I Remember, is definitely worth a listen.

Lead singer Hart is no gimmick. This chick belts out each tune like it's gonna be her last, and this adds greatly to the energy the band carries as they assault the listener with serisous moshing material along the lines of Arch Enemy or Amon Amarth. She's got the goods. And Logan's playing is fierce and heavy after more than a dozen years since being onstage. This is some good, heavy, angry stuff to keep your blood pumping.

The Bottom Line: Lauren Hart came seemingly out of nowhere with enough talent to goad Logan Mader out from behind the recording scenes to start playing again in an epic new death metal band and you're wondering if you should check it out? What are you, nuts?

- Genghis wouldn't mind checking these cats out live...