Scale the Summit

[obscure]

Seriously...

[wasteland]

Are you sure he's actually that young and not one of those people who look teenager and are in fact 30ish due to some growth/ormone disorder? Because seriously, he's great!... 

[adace]

Chris' playthrough of "The Dark Horse" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiTaRUqXhGE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUuokdzT3JWGwFT9LdRLYwhw

[Nick]

Guys in the band are saying they made it to #131 on the charts, with 3,700 sold.

[MoraWintersoul]

I heard one track off this album on Nick's radio last night, and two more that are upped by the label on youtube and I'm in love I need more! What's a good place to start?

[Lolzeez]

I heard one track off this album on Nick's radio last night, and two more that are upped by the label on youtube and I'm in love I need more! What's a good place to start?

Just listen to The Migration.

[Nel_Annette]

Then The Collective. In fact, just go backwards.

Monument isn't "bad", but the guitar sounds so samey on every song that it gets bland quick. Best saved for last.

[Perpetual Change]

Finally picked up The Migration, and I can't wait to listen later.

[Dark Castle]

OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO FUCKING RADULAR LIVE

[YtseCullen]

OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO FUCKING RADULAR LIVE

Oh yeah man!

[Limelight]

I usually find instrumental metal albums quite boring, and I pretty much always find myself wanting vocals after a few tracks. I have to say though, The Migration is seriously kicking my ass, it's so good! Seems to be about the right length too for this kinda stuff. 

[Nel_Annette]

So after spending a while listening to The Migration... I'd say The Collective is better. Heck, even Carving Desert Canyons. I don't know, this new one just feels like a step back. Still good though, but quite a few of the songs just feel like the directionless noodling they'd do a lot on the first two albums, instead of something that felt like it was fully realized. And there weren't really any moments that stuck out to me like the numerous ones on TC or the Glacial Planet solo on CDC.

To be fair though, it took me months to really get into The Collective, so this one may take a while to sink in too.

[(nothing)]

Ok so I've been listening to The Migration non-stop for about 2 weeks now. I've been following the band since Carving Desert Canyons came out (actually found out about them when they were participated in Progressive Nation). They're all amazing dudes (met them in 2010 when they were touring with Between The Buried And Me).

At this point, The Collective is probably one of my Top 10 favorite albums of all time. And I listen to a loooooot of music, like literally almost everything from hip-hop, jazz and electronic music to hardcore and progressive metal. Not even kidding about that record being this good. It just achieves a balance of technicality, darkness and emotion that a few other records do, in my opinion.

So obviously the bar was set pretty f'in high. The Migration is good but in my opinion not as good as The Collective. This doesn't mean it's not a good record. In fact, it's awesome and some songs are among their best. It's also funny because for many people "The Olive Tree" is the best song on the record while I can barely listen to it, it just sounds really forced to me and the thing with the volume pedal in the beginning just puts me off. It's the only song I skip constantly whenever I listen to the album. Anyway, that being said, "Atlas Novus" is so far the best track of this year for me while there are definitely some more "classics" on this one, most notably "Oracle" and "The Traveler". Overall, it's a very good album, just not as good as the previous one in my opinion. 

[Mebert78]

Seeing these guys with Tesseract tonight in Brooklyn.  I was mostly going to see Tessseract, so I'm just starting to check out these guys on YouTube.  Good stuff! 

[Dark Castle]

They're fantastic live, saw them with Intronaut.
Have fun man!

[Mebert78]

They're fantastic live, saw them with Intronaut.
Have fun man!

Wow, you weren't kidding.  Fantastic.  I bought the album at the show.  I was fucking blown away.

[adace]

From Chris' FB:

Officially started tracking guitars for my jazz-ish all clean instrumental album! Will have more info and updates on who will be playing on it in 2 weeks! Stoked to show you guys what I have been writing!

[WindMaster]

Sick, can't wait for that.

[adace]

From FB:

Solo album is finished! The talent I had play on this record is incredible. Everyone added so many amazing elements I never thought of. Had a blast making it and cant wait to share it with the world!

The line-up:
Guitar: Chris Letchford
Bass: Evan Brewerwer (4 songs)
Bass: Mark Michell (6 songs)
Drums: Steven Carlos Padin (The Reign of Kindo)
Piano: Danny Pizarro (The Reign Of Kindo)(6 songs)
Piano: Steven Padin (4 songs)

"LIGHTBOX" will be out July 15th.

Track Listing:
1. The Star Boys
2. Earthen
3. Sign Of Four
4. Zodiac
5. Rayless
6. In Force
7. Piedra Falls
8. Pearl
9. Ghost Orchid
10. The Gentlemen

First single coming next week! Can't wait for you guys to hear it so keep an eye out.

Pre-order now at: www.chrisletchfordstore.com

[adace]

A track from Chris' solo album is up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUqX1r7Ezgs

[adace]

and another track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUpGsUWY8vM&list=UU2POXa5CWlcvW99BWeTE8Tw

[Mebert78]

I saw Scale the Summit a few weeks ago in NY.  It's the third or fourth time I've seen them in the past year.  They've really played here a lot.  Anyway, having seen them to much now, I started to wonder why the bassist is center stage and Chris is positioned off to the side.  From my perspective, he seems to be "the guy" in STS and is marketed more than any other band member.  He has a solo album, guitar books, YouTube videos, etc.  If you ask me, it makes sense for him to be center stage instead of the bassist.  I get that they want to book-end the two guitarists on stage, but if the band is going to market Chris to such a degree then he should be front and center, in my opinion.  Anyone agree/disagree?

[JRundquist]

I saw Scale the Summit a few weeks ago in NY.  It's the third or fourth time I've seen them in the past year.  They've really played here a lot.  Anyway, having seen them to much now, I started to wonder why the bassist is center stage and Chris is positioned off to the side.  From my perspective, he seems to be "the guy" in STS and is marketed more than any other band member.  He has a solo album, guitar books, YouTube videos, etc.  If you ask me, it makes sense for him to be center stage instead of the bassist.  I get that they want to book-end the two guitarists on stage, but if the band is going to market Chris to such a degree then he should be front and center, in my opinion.  Anyone agree/disagree?

In an Instrumental band, does that really matter?

Their setup to me it makes sense, guitar is at both left and right, bass and drums in the middle, it makes for a good sonic sound.

They all move on stage, it's not like they are stuck in that spot and can't move around.

[Mebert78]

In an Instrumental band, does that really matter?

I suppose not.  I think it came to mind after seeing Animals as Leaders and noticing Tobin was front and center.  Made me wonder why STS doesn't do it, since Chris seems to play most of the solos and is the main guy.  He stayed off to the side at all three shows I saw.  Not a big deal, just a thought.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

So I listened to The Migration recently and was completely blown away. One of the best instrumental albums I've ever heard.

[Scorpion]

Dude that's so 2013.

Just kidding, The Migration is fantastic. Thanks to you for posting it on Facebook yesterday, I listened to the album again and was reminded again of its brilliance.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Dude that's so 2013.

Just kidding, The Migration is fantastic. Thanks to you for posting it on Facebook yesterday, I listened to the album again and was reminded again of its brilliance.

Dude, this is incredible for me. Ususally I'm something like 5 years behind everyone else. I'm gaining ground!

[YtseCullen]

I got to shoot them again in Calgary not too long ago. Thought you guys might want to see some of my work!











Yes Mark's bass lights up 

[adace]

According to their FB post, StS will begin recording their 5th album this Wednesday! Can't wait!!

[Nel_Annette]

From their FB page yesterday:

An update...we have parted ways with our drummer Pat Skeffington. Pat is a fantastic drummer and will be greatly missed. We wish him the absolute best in the future!
Moving forward, we'd like to officially welcome J.C. Bryant as the new drummer for Scale The Summit. We just finished drum tracking for the new album this past weekend and can't wait for everyone to hear the songs! Get excited! New album coming SUMMER 2015!

Is Scale the Summit just slowly becoming Tetrafusion?  That two times now that a band member has left and been replaced by someone in Tetrafusion.

[YtseCullen]

Pat and I were good buddies, so I'm majorly bummed. But JC seems to kill it so I hope he brings his A game to this album and fills Pat's shoes nicely!

[Nel_Annette]

From their Facebook again:

Our new shreddin' album will be titled "V", due out this summer via Prosthetic Records. We wrapped up the recording process a few days ago and now will have the amazing Jamie King mix this bad boy. Can't put into words how excited we are about this material! Artwork reveal coming soon!

I think this will make about five or six bands in my collection that have titled their fifth album V.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Haha, I was thinking the same thing when I saw that update. Looking forward to the album though, the last one was incredible!

[Dark Castle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it5qQtUg9EY


DAT Low End. Aaaaaaaa~
Dat everything else  oooooooo~

Also at 2:00 I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Hyped beyond belief for this album.

[Nel_Annette]

Album art revealed.