Appice Perdomo Project Drop New Single

Great metal music doesn’t have to be hook-oriented, and if there’s a band committed to driving that point home this August, it just might be Appice Perdomo Project. Based out of the underground and comprised of a pair of icons equally gifted at making incredible metal beats and leads the same, Appice Perdomo Project doesn’t claim to be the most exciting or experimental act you’re going to hear outside of the mainstream bubble this summer, but they could wind up being just that depending on how you look at their new single “Running Up That Hill.” While I don’t think that this cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” is a game-changer in terms of construction, the way it blends the best of metal is straight out of the old guard – and a refreshing sound Gen Z could easily get into right now.

Things start a little slow in this single, but not for lack of intrigue within the material. Appice Perdomo Project goes out of its way to build up the gentle, atmospheric tone of the music before entering big chest-beating into the mix, and though it’s somewhat ominous, the intro in this single doesn’t feel bloated at all. I don’t get the feeling that this is a band consumed with trying to stretch themselves – or a melody – particularly thin in the studio, and if this weren’t the case I don’t believe they would sound as collected in their performance as they do here. Rehearsed or not, their flow sounds and feels natural from start to finish in “Running Up That Hill.”

You don’t have to look very hard to find a whole lot of heart in this song, starting with the arrangement and the beats that are forced through it. The instruments dance together so superbly in “Running Up That Hill” that there are a plethora of moments in which their melodic output starts to meld together, but this is not because the track isn’t cleanly produced. Appice Perdomo Project just has too close a rapport with their medium for the music in this single to sound like anything other than a collective flex of the most controlled variety, which is becoming an increasingly rare sight in the whole of metal this year. There’s depth beyond the cosmetics of this song, and it centers on the personalities of the players themselves.   Try as you might this season, I don’t believe you’re likely to hear another metal duo sounding quite as on-point as Appice Perdomo Project does in “Running Up That Hill.”

They’ve got a lot of competition on the circuit right now, but theirs is such a unique and rock-friendly sound that I can see it picking up with indie radio types long before some of the more streamlined metal efforts out this month will. Time will tell for sure, but just going off of what they’ve already done in their first two songs would indicate that Appice Perdomo Project is onto something very special in their work together right now. Hard rock needs more focused players, and they’ve got the organically classic sound to make a lot of listeners happy this year.  

Mindy McCall