Texas metal band Fugitive lights up the heavy music scene with their sudden new EP Maniac.

Fugitive is Seth Gilmore (vocals), Blake Ibanez (guitar), Victor Gutierrez (guitar), Andy Messer (bass), and Lincoln Mullins (drums). Those names might be familiar since this band is made of musicians from Power Trip, Creeping Death, and Skourge. This new EP dropped without notice or fanfare and it hit the metal scene hard. If you haven’t heard it yet, you need to get right on that. In fact, don’t even finish reading this review. Proceed directly to the music.

There are five killer tracks on Maniac. “The Javelin” is a great instrumental song with one big growl and a huff. It is two minutes of a chopping, rolling riff that is the perfect walk-on music. “Maniac” is more actively aggressive, lashing out for action. It flat out rips. Gilmore insists, and the percussion is a steady surety with bursting ripples. The big riffs are here, too, and the lead guitar is weaponized.

You can smell the gasoline on “Hell’s Half Acre.” This is exactly the song I would have wanted to hear when I used to drive around drinking on the back roads all those years ago. Adrenaline-infused groove metal with lightning strike shreds. The long wind-down at the end is a thing of beauty. Damn. “Neutralized” sounds like a theme song for a haunted asylum movie. It is jackhammer metal that will unlock your joints.

“Raise The Dead” is the last nail pried from the coffin lid. Everything about this song demonstrates that when they play it live it could go on for ten minutes without a second thought. The riff and rhythm are fundamental, and the vocals are both a pledge and a delivered result. I can’t wait to see these guys at Psycho Las Vegas – and I will have by the time this review is published. Highly recommended.

Maniac is out now. Hear it anywhere, and buy it at Bandcamp.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://fugitivetx.bandcamp.com/releases

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/fugitivetx

© Wayne Edwards