With the release of their debut EP Serious Sidequest right around the corner, progressive metal act Total Party Kill are making an entrance to remember with this new dual-guitar playthrough for their new single “The Rakdos Charm”! Featuring guitarists Becca Scammon and James Hadley, the duo unleash some stellar prog guitar goodness here, so grab your nearest D20, sit back, and enjoy!
With the proggiest of riffs, plenty of dynamics, and haunting vocals, “The Rakdos Charm” has just about everything we love about progressive metal. And if it weren’t obvious already, the band draws inspiration from one of our favorite card games, Magic the Gathering, the aesthetic of which works incredibly well in a progressive metal context. All things considered, Total Party Kill are checking off a lot of boxes for us when it comes to forward-thinking modern metal, and we can’t wait to hear the rest of what they’ve got cookin’.
From the band:
“This song is how Total Party Kill came to be. A chord progression passed back and forth just for fun on an afternoon quickly fell into an entire song over the course of a few days. All of the band members are avid gamers, so incorporating fantasy elements from games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering was a really exciting direction for us to take our music thematically.”
And as for the gear, here’s what Becca and James are rocking:
“For the album, I alternated between using my two Strandberg guitars. My custom is a Strandberg Boden 8 with EMG 57/66’s. I also used my Strandberg Metal 8, which has EMG 57/66’s as well, however, it’s a custom bright green set that I love very much.”
Becca Scammon
“The guitar I mostly used on the album, and in this video, I built myself; a prototype of my headless guitar model “The Nimbus.” It’s a 7 string multiscale loaded with a Seymour Duncan Pegasus in the bridge and a Lace Alumitone X Bar in the neck. For any 8 string riffage on the album, I used a Strandberg Metal 8 with EMG 57/66 pickups.”
James Hadley
Be sure to follow Total Party Kill on Facebook and Instagram, and keep your peepers peeled for the release of Serious Sidequest in the near future!
