Album Review: Savage Lands – Army of the Trees (Season of Mist)
Be part of something important. Help protect this planet with Savage Lands as they release their first album, Army of the Trees, via Season of Mist on the 14th of February.
Savage Lands are the first heavy metal and environmental non profit organisation, signed to a label. They create music, raising awareness and funds that then allow them to help protect our planet.
Savage Lands was founded by Dirk Verbeuren (drummer in Megadeth) and Sylvain Demercastel (musician in Artsonic turned activist) but has expanded now into a growing army of collaborators and supporters, from fans of music, bands, organisations and like minded individuals. With a heavy focus on protecting the rainforests of Costa Rica at the moment, Savage Lands, through their music have preserved 100,000 square feet of forest in high-risk areas along the Costa Rican coastline. 100% of the royalties from their first album, Army of the Trees, support their ongoing preservation projects in Costa Rica and other countries. That’s impressive, but there is work to do.
“After hearing the chainsaws on a daily basis, we knew it was time to act because the buzzing is only getting louder”.
In Costa Rica, Savage Lands partners with scientists, forest engineers, ecological parks, private businesses and other non-profits. Their Green Alliance (Alianza Verde) has led to more than 11,000 trees being planted in deforested areas throughout Costa Rica, which were planted with the help of 1,200 volunteers.
Collaboration also fuels the creative fires of Savage Lands. The core band includes Poun and Etienne Treton from the veteran French metalcore band Black Bomb A, along with Loco Muerte’s Florian Pons. When they planted their ecological flag on Hellfest’s main stage in 2024, movers and shakers from across the metal sphere showed up to support. Not only did the festival leader pledge to donate 1 million Euro to the organizations over the next five years. Daniel de Jongh (Textures), Silje Wergeland (The Gathering), Jesper Liveröd (Nasum), Alejandro Montoya (Cultura tres), Vincent Price (Body Count), Billy Graziadei (Biohazard), Shane Embury (Napalm Death) and Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) all joined for an appropriately bloody and scream-worthy rendition of “Roots”.
Army of the Trees features even more metallic fire power. Obituary’s John Tardy, visionary artist Chloé Trujillo and Heilung’s chief of ceremonies Kai Uwe Faust, Eurovision’s darlings Lord Of The Lost, Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz, Julien Truchan from Benighted and other pillars from the French metal community.
As fans of heavy music, we can now also do our bit. Listen, purchase and join the Army of Trees knowing that every listen, every share, every purchase makes you a part of something huge and inspirational.
As Sylvain and Dirk state:
“Our goals are attainable. By converting the land that we purchase into nature sanctuaries, Savage Lands will help set a precedent for environmental activism. But we must work together and quickly. Ecosystems are still under attack. If we don’t, then there won’t be any wildlife left to save”.
Army of Trees comes with cover art by Brewster Agency. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Adair Daufembach at Daufembach Studio in Los Angeles. The core band features Poun on vocals, Sylvain Demercastel on guitars, Etienne Treton on bass and Florian Pons on drums. Across the albums 10 tracks there are then of course many featured guests and active special members of the band including Dirk Verbeuren, Kai Uwe Faust, Chloe Trujillo, Alissa White-Gluz, Kenneth Andrews, Andreas Kisser, John Tardy, Maria Franz and Lord Of The Lost.
The story, the reason and the cause is nothing short of inspirational and genius really. It’s important now that the music can live up to the scale of the project. This is my first time hearing Savage Lands so lets’s get to it with opening track, Black Rock Heart which features Dirk Verbeuren, Kai Uwe Faust and Chloe Trujillo. As an opener, it delivers a nice slab of meaty heaviness with solid riffs and strong mid tempo rhythm. Harsh vocals combine with cleans and many styles between helped by the additional guests and the different tricks and skills they deliver.
But, as much as I am really desperate to love all of this, I have to admit this isn’t a great song to start with because the vocals rather than contrast, often clash. It’s messy. Musically solid, but with a chorus that falls a little flat and then constant vocal clashes through the verses. The solo is neat, and there are moments I like, even with the vocals but I find this song showcases a lot of individual talent, but it doesn’t come together for a great song or a great start for the album.
Ruling Queen (featuring Alissa White-Gluz, Kenny Andrews) quickly gets us back on track though delivering an absolute banger of a track with vocals led by the excellent Alissa White-Gluz. It’s pretty standard in structure, so less messy, delivering harsh vocals in the verses, cleans in the prechorus and then some nice mixes of styles in the chorus. String riffs and a head banging beat drive the song on and it also packs a strong solo.
The Last Howl (featuring John Tardy, Andreas Kisser) has a nice melancholic acoustic melody to kicks things off, lulling you in before a crunchy explosion of riffs, drums and roars gets the adrenaline flowing. The slower thump of bassy riffs is welcome and there are some really neat drum fills and patterns. Vocals are harsh and heavy but bring some nice clean harmonising in the choruses too. It’s a strong chorus actually, the strongest so far. The bar has definitely been raised.
No Remedy (featuring Maria Franz) is another strong one delivering a deeper vibe with a great vocal performance, more exciting drum work and some nice bassy rhythms and riffs. The chorus is very catchy and singable and the lyrical content is powerful. Out of Breath (featuring Lord Of The Lost, Chloe Trujillo) picks the pace and ferocity up massively starting straight off with a collection of barked vocals and hard riffing. There is a lot happening from a vocal perspective through the additional guests. There are moments, because of this, where it treads dangerously close to being messy but manages to stay on the right side of the line this time, instead portraying their frustration and anger well through the contrasts. I absolutely live the solo in this one too. There is a lot of soloing on Army of the Trees but this is my favourite one so far.
Better Man and Never Be Up are our next two tracks and both songs showcase the insane variety on offer from Savage Lands here. The former dropping down into a more sombre, more melancholic vocal performance. The music is bassy, with depth, but still packs a punch. The latter track has a hard rock, almost traditional vibe to it delivering a fast pace, punky vocals in the verse and a catchy rocking chorus. Both very different, but both good songs.
That moves us on to the title track of this album – Army of the Trees – which also has some guests/members of the movement on it. Here we go –
Army of Trees features Steeven Corsini (Loco Muerte), Auré Jäger (Akiavel), David & Viber (Sidilarsen), Niko Jones (Tagada Jones), Julien Truchan (Benighted), Stéphane Buriez (Loudblast, Sinsaenum), Nils Courbaron (Bloodorn, Sirenia, DDC) and Aurelien Ouzoulias (The Beat Factory, Mörglbl).
This band, and it’s cause are well supported and rightly so! As a song, it slays. I love the pace and the intense mash up of vocal styles and musicianship. It has pace, it has energy and definitely has feeling delivering the message well with strong lyrical content and even stronger delivery. This is the song you play to really showcase Savage Lands but also to make you feel energised, ready for the fight and part of the Army of the Trees. Brilliant song, that, for me, should have opened the album.
We must move on though and reach our penultimate track with Visions of Life. It was always going to be hard to follow the previous track, and we don’t quite hit the same high bar but don’t fall far short. Strong riffs and stronger drums will get your head moving. Powerful vocals and a wicked screaming lead guitar line keep things interesting as does the strong chorus and solo.
Army of the Trees closes with the song Addicted and it’s a strong closer. Big slamming riffs lead us on through verses with decent vocals in a slightly different, grungy style. The drums are excellent, again, and the overall rhythm of the track is very easy to get in to. It flows well, has a nice gothic slow down, and an even nicer build back up to a big ending with a solo, and some emphatic singing. Its a solid song and a nice way to close the album out.
Overall, the album is an easy listen with nothing happening musically that is overly challenging or groundbreaking but, in part due to the massive amount of members and guests, there is a whole heap of variety and creativity on offer. Kind of close to the point where it stops being the album of a single band, and feels a little bit more like a compilation. That’s not a negative. It is, after all, the combined hearts and passions of many musicians and artists all throwing their considerable strengths into a project that is already doing great things but with ambitions for more.
It’s a project we all should, and I think will, feel strongly about. That is such a huge percentage of what Savage Lands and Army of the Trees exists for that you cannot judge this album on music alone. If you were, it’s good, but not great. But, even at it’s low points, because of it’s purpose, because of it’s aim, it feels more personal, has more depth and matters more, making the songs genuinely better.
I hope though that whether you like this, or love it, or I guess, but doubt, hate it, you can find commonality in the cause and listen, share, support this music and project.
Tracklist:
1. Black Rock Heart (feat Kai Uwe Faust, Chloe Trujillo)
2. Ruling Queen (featuring Alissa White-Gluz, Kenny Andrews)
3. The Last Howl (featuring John Tardy, Andreas Kisser)
4. No Remedy (featuring Maria Franz)
5. Out of Breath (featuring Lord Of The Lost, Chloe Trujillo)
6. Better Man
7. Never Be Up
8. Army of the Trees
9. Visions of Life
10. Addicted
You can preorder or presave Army of the Trees at this link, and if you can, consider donating to the cause at this link.
Savage Lands Links
Official Website – Apple Music – Spotify – Facebook – Instagram
Author
Savage Lands - Army of the Trees (Season of Mist)
By Artist: Savage Lands
Album name: Army of the Trees
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The Final Score - 8.5/10
8.5/10
