Coheed and Cambria guitarist Travis Stever’s side project, Davenport Cabinet may have a hit on their hands. The band has raised the curtain on their new album, “Our Machine,” a cavalcade of hard rocking’ and dark tunes that will continue to cement Stever’s place in the alternative/metal scene, but one track stands out the most.
“Black Dirt Burden,” the seventh track on the album, will be the one many fans of Stever’s earlier work will enjoy the most. It’s also the best song on the album. The song ultimately sounds like a slowed down, almost psychedelic version of Coheed and Cambria’s “Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood and Burial).” If ’60s rock powerhouse Vanilla Fudge could do their own version of a Coheed and Cambria song, it would probably song something like this one. The cascading guitar riffs and backup vocals are also eerily reminiscent of Coheed and Cambria as well.
Overall, this is perhaps the most radio friendly Stever has been during his career. The song, which tells a story of impending doom, would work great as ring music for a gritty and non-conformist WWE star the likes of Dean Ambrose.
The song is far from a rip-off or pro wrestling background however. The intro on the banjo and the various uses of Peter Frampton-esque distortion also separate the song from the C&C track library. While the high-pitched vocal work of Claudio Sanchez is always a pleasure, the vocal work of Stever and Tyler Klose give the song an almost classic rock, early ’80s metal feel at times. The guitar solos alone make this track enjoyable, but the eery vocals and engaging hook make you take the words to heart.
If the world is about to end, this track is a nice last way to jam out.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Coheed and Cambria guitarist Travis Stever’s side project, Davenport Cabinet may have a hit on their hands. The band has raised the curtain on their new album, “Our Machine,” a cavalcade of hard rocking’ and dark tunes that will continue to cement Stever’s place in the alternative/metal scene, but one track stands out the most.
Leave a Reply