Album Notes

The music industry is a vast wasteland of copycats and wannabe’s. Originality gives way to formula, ambition gives way to laziness. With every generation of one hit wonders, it gets worse.

But every so often, the music industry gets a bitchslap.

Welcome to the next level of aggression. Howitzer has taken their disgust for the repetitive and have crafted their own brand of pure heavy metal. They don’t play by the rules, they don’t follow formulas, and they don’t listen to anybody – they simply put their money where their mouth is.

Since forming in 2000, Howitzer – Jeremy Jalowiec (drums), Matt Moody (vocals/guitars) and Beau Diveley (bass) - have sharpened their skills and honed their hatred to put together the strongest metal release of 2008, the aptly titled Rise to Power.

Rise to Power is the band’s signature perfection – it solidifies the long struggle and natural progression of the three separate entities that are the core of Howitzer. Backgrounds as diverse as jazz, punk, classic rock, blues, and old school metal come together to bring you a modern day Frankenstein of bone crushing metal.

I, for one, am personally impressed at how the band has possessed a juggernaut of talent and determination that has steadily increased since their humble punk beginnings. Long gone are the quickly strewn together songs, simplistic riffs rambling underneath.

Today, separating Howitzer from the tired formulas is the addition of three distinctive vocal styles meshed and interwoven throughout their songs. Those simplistic riffs of their early beginnings have given way to intricate time changes and masterful rhythms without the need to downtune.

But Rise to Power is only part of the story. Completely self managed and promoted, the band is known for their renowned high energy performances, and were hand picked to support such legends as Sacred Reich, Soulfly, Venom, DRI, Drowning Pool and Silent Civilian. Their rabid audiences have followed them all over Arizona, as well as to Los Angeles, San Diego, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado.

Howitzer. Rise to Power. Their time has come.


Written by: Dave Svendsen