(by Scott Alisoglu)
“It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all to be compared to a brilliant fuckin’ band like that and a brilliant guitar player; he’s literally one of the greatest fuckin’ guitar players in the world.” — Curran Murphy, on Nevermore and Jeff Loomis.
“People say, ‘oh, it sounds like Nevermore,’” recounts Shatter Messiah leader/guitarist Curran Murphy (ex-Nevermore, ex-Annihilator) about his band’s familiar sound on 2006’s Never To Play The Servant and 2007’s God Burns Like Flesh (both released on German label Dockyard 1). “Of course it sounds like that,” he continues. “If you add it up I think I’m the only guitar player that has been in [Nevermore] longer than every [other] guitar player they’ve ever had. For The Politics Of Ecstasy I was in the band for about a year, for Dead Heart In A Dead World it was like two and a half years… Nobody has had the [Jeff] Loomis time that I’ve had where literally we would sit for 10-14 hours a day playing guitar together and working on riffs. As a band, they’re fucking incredible. I worked really hard to play their music correctly and it became a part of how I play and how I write. It’s not intentional. And I wouldn’t have played in the band for as long as I did if I didn’t like how he plays and if it didn’t make me a better guitar player. It’s ingrained; it’s a part of my style. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all to be compared to a brilliant fuckin’ band like that and a brilliant guitar player; he’s literally one of the greatest fuckin’ guitar players in the world.”
Nor should it be a source of concern for Murphy. To quote from an ancient Chinese proverb: “Good metal is good metal.” The fact of the matter is that Murphy formed a band that has released two terrific albums. Unfortunately, both have gone virtually unnoticed in the States due to the lack of a proper record deal in this country, but each has scored rave reviews in the European press.
Shatter Messiah’s musical mix does indeed include Nevermore-esque power thrash, traditional metal and infectious, dark melodies. And that’s a good thing. Featuring the down-tuned, technically proficient guitar wizardry of Murphy and Dusty Holt, ex-Annihilator drummer Robert Falzano, bassist Jason Chamberlain and the vocals of Greg Wagner, which move seamlessly from glass-shattering screams to melodic ‘n’ moody singing à la Warrel Dane, the nine tracks featured on God Burns Like Flesh are magnificently written and infinitely memorable.
“I want to make great records that people want to listen to and buy,” Murphy exclaims. “I don’t want to do a Load or St. Anger or Risk. I want to be proud of every fuckin’ song on the record. Y’know, three years later you hear these conversations from bands, ‘well, we tried something different and we weren’t really sure…’ Fuck that, just make the shit you like and stop trying to hit someone else’s moving target.”
