Ottawa, Canada’s SINFUL WAYS have a new lyric video “Pursuit” in support of their recently released EP “Darkest Days”. The band’s most adventurous song to date was originally written by guitarist Georgio Karapanos nearly a decade ago with all the orchestral arrangements composed for the EP that are featured at the beginning of the track before slamming into harmonized, sweep picking guitars. The song focuses on being in a dark place emotionally and mentally and finding the inner strength to find a positive way to heal.
Sinful Ways’ new EP “Darkest Days” blends melodic and thrashy elements along with three members sharing vocal duties, bassist Brad Lake doing cleans, drummer Dave Matlak doing main screams, and guitarist Frank Lahache on backing screams.
The recording is an eighteen-minute exploration of war, anarchy, third-world struggles, and mental health.
Engaging fans with a mood-setting intro of crows, bells, and the wind, Sinful Ways lay a path into the opening track ‘Vow of the Devil’, a riffy, thrashy melodic vs. harsh experience. From there that band gets your fist-pumping with the anthemic ‘Bury The Hatchet’, which only gets you prepared for the perfectly titled ‘Manhattan’, an atomic bomb song solely written with a mosh pit in mind. To close out the EP, fans will experience ‘Pursuit’, the band’s most adventurous song that features an orchestral arrangement at the start before slamming into harmonized, sweep-picking guitars.
The band adds about “Darkest Days”: “Everyone struggles from time to time; we even recorded this EP remotely during these Covid times. We believe we finally found a way to blend our various styles and elements to create some mosh pit favourites! We want people to remember why they got into metal, the energy, the fun, and the guitars. We want them to relive the days they discover good music! From front to back, we believe this EP holds a lot of musical value.”
“Darkest Days” was produced and mixed by Cameron Dunn and mastered by Scott Middleton at Hillside Audio in Toronto. EP Artwork by Nik Paquin. Recommended for fans of Trivium, Parkway Drive, Avenged Sevenfold, and Slipknot, “Darkest Days” is available on digital platforms at this location.
“Darkest Days” follows Sinful Ways’ debut 2019 EP “To Hell Tonight”, and 2020 stand-alone singles “Burst into Flames” plus “No Escape”.
EP Fun Facts you may not know about the record:
- Cameron Dunn at Hillside Audio helped providing backing vocals in the chants throughout the EP
- Georgio Karapanos wrote Pursuit 9 or 10 years ago and composed all the string sections on the EP.
- Outro section in Manhattan, the bass was played by Dave Matlak hitting the open string with drum sticks!
- Frank Lahache’s guitar solo were recorded off of a Hughes and Kettner mini nano Spirit Amp
- Brad Lake sliced his foot wide open weeks before recording and recorded the vocals on crutches!
Track by track commentary:
Welcome (Intro): Our intro track opens with the illusion that you are in a graveyard. As the speech goes on you start to see, the man is the devil. You hear crows, bells, winds, everything you need to set the mood to welcome you to our hell
Vow: This is a very fast trashy yet melodic track that blends clean and harsh vocals. It has a unique style of breakdown that keeps the song flowing in a fast-paced way. You can find long screams, harmonized cleans, fast riffs, and hard-hitting drums on this track. Lyrically the song is about being the devil and needing to honor your work but hating doing it. He doesn’t want to be the devil, but he knows he has to be to keep this world together
Bury The Hatchet: Our single track showcases what we are. This is a fast, heavy track where the clean vocals shine! With a very catchy chorus that you can sing along, I feel the fans will enjoy, with a breakdown that’s aggressive and heavy, leads that are technical, talented drumming, and great screams. This is who we are! Lyrically it is about not giving up or giving in. If you have something worth fighting for. You must fight for it
Manhattan: This song is designed for mosh pits. Drawing inspiration from the atomic bomb, Manhattan has more of a political focus lyrically, criticizing man’s need for dominance and superiority while disregarding the needs of society.
Pursuit: This is our most adventurous song to date. This song features an orchestral arrangement at the start before slamming into harmonized, sweep-picking guitars. The song focuses on being in a dark place emotionally and mentally and finding the inner strength to find a positive way to heal.
Press about SINFUL WAYS:
“A huge sound, massive riffs and ferocious roaring, the drums providing a thunderous backdrop.”” – The Razor’s Edge
“Canadian metal band Sinful Ways are on a quest to bring you, well, metal. With influences that span multiple subgenres (especially including a helping of thrash metal influence), the band are offering up Darkest Days – their sophomore EP. Many of these songs are truly written with the moshpit action in mind, making for a solid introduction to the band. It’s only 18 minutes long, too, so tracks like “Vow Of The Devil” (an EP standout) manage to not drag on too long” – New Fury Media
“The band have spent the last two years or so releasing content, slowly piecing together where they want to go. Like the title track to their first EP To Hell Tonight, there’s an attempt at loftier songwriting with closer “Pursuit.” Its grandiose guitar solo and ensuing breakdown are an excellent snapshot of the group’s evolution.” – Heavy Music Headquarters
“…as the crows kraa an arty spoken word sets the tone as “Welcome” bursts into “Vow of the Devil“, a classic Trivium esq all out riff attack that blends elements of Thrash, Groove and Metalcore into one homogeneous seething beast accompanied by a scathing vocal attack encased in a classic Thrash bark at very much acts as a wake up call before “Bury The Hatchet” comes in swinging like a wrecking ball. The band made the statement that they had worked at their instruments while unable to play shows and in the second offering that time spent comes into its own with dedication to their craft and attention to detail shining like a lighthouse beacon over stormy waters.” – Metal Noise
