Album Premiere: Children of the Reptile – Heavy is the Head
Children of the Reptile’s latest is a big ass flex of pure American muscle. Come get you some.
It’s been a long five years since The End, the last album from Wilmington, North Carolina’s Children of the Reptile. Though the last half decade left most of us much dumber and shittier than we were in the era before, Children of the Reptile have emerged from that time portal not unlike Theodore Logan and Bill S. Preston Esquire at the end of their Bogus Journey – fully trained and ready to shred. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed The End, but the band’s latest, Heavy is the Head, is a standout achievement and an absolute clinic in sick as fuck traditional metal riffing. But it’s more than just riffs that Children of the Reptile have to offer here. We’ve all grown and matured so much over the last five years that we should be above mere riffage. Each track places a premium on songwriting craft and dynamics that is so often completely absent in a scene full of rip-offs and rehashes. Rather than focusing on dropping the right names and copying the right songs, this band has assembled a unique sound from the massive toolbox of heavy metal’s first few decades. The riffs really are good as fuck tho. You can listen for yourself right here and right now.
Per the creators themselves: “Heavy is the Head represents the five years of hardship, growth, personal loss, blood, sweat, and fucking tears endured and imbibed since Children of the Reptile’s last full length release. (2018’s The End) This work is a heavy metal odyssey through everything we cherish about this genre, and we hope our hard-earned joy, power, and glory shines through in our performance. We believe that Children of the Reptile are the best independent heavy metal band in the world, and Heavy is the Head that wears the fucking crown.”
It takes some brass fucking balls to call yourself the best independent heavy metal band in the world but after a few spins of this record I’m having a hard time disagreeing. Heavy is the Head drops this Friday, April 7th. You can and should pick it up over on Bandcamp.
