SULACO
Sulaco can be seen as an evolution from guitarist Erik Burke's
previous band, Lethargy, who played a seminal role in shaping the
musical climate of Rochester's underground metal scene. Lethargy
was legendary in the Rochester area during the mid 90s for crafting
an often imitated but never duplicated style of ridiculously
intricate carnival-esque metal that showcased cross-eyed guitar
antics and blistering jazz-fusion rhythms over 10 years before it
became popular in the underground. With three demos, an album (It's
Hard To Write With A Little Hand, 1996) and their final EP
(Discography, 1999) recorded, 1999 marked the demise of Lethargy
with drummer Brann Dailor and guitarist Bill Kelliher moving on to
enlist in Today Is The Day and later form Mastodon. Wasting no time
to regroup, the multi-talented Erik Burke assumed drumming duties
in Kalibas until 2002, when he parted ways with Kalibas and
recruited Golding and Hackett to form Sulaco. Like Lethargy,
Sulaco's musical base takes its most significant cues from bands
north of the Mason-Dixon line, citing Ripping Corpse, Damonacy,
Breadwinner and Human Remains as a few of their key influences.
However, Sulaco improves upon Lethargy's haphazard sense of
structure and instead integrates the mesmerizing quirkiness into a
devious songwriting regimen that is as spasmodically progressive as
it is abrasively visceral. Sulaco's ability to seamlessly employ an
explosively direct approach to such technical material is rare when
most bands of this nature would rather noodle indiscriminately,
consequently sacrificing memorable songwriting for aimless
masturbation. Such intrinsic fluidity defines Sulaco as a shining
example of world-class forward thinking metal.